Dangerous Love
by britney d'ambra
Summary: Gabriella D'Ambra is your average everyday teenager just trying to pass her senior year with her best friend Jasmine and her star quarterback boyfriend, Tyler. Everything in her life seems be going great until she meets a mysterious boy, Caleb Vinci.


CHAPTER 1

Do you ever get that feeling like you are being watched by someone? I do. Sometimes it's only when I'm alone in my room, never when I'm with my friends or family…just when I'm alone. Maybe it's because I'm more aware of my surroundings when I'm alone than when I'm busy with my friends. Whatever the reason, I always have that damn feeling.

"Gabby…Hello?" I blinked as a hand waved in front of my face.

"Huh?" I snapped out of my paranoia of being watched. I'd been so fixated on trying to see if someone really was watching me that I toned out my best friend Jasmine. We'd been best friends since 2nd grade and now we are seniors in high school. That's real friendship.

Jasmine was that type of person that no one could ever get mad at. She never yelled, she never argued, and she never talked really bad about someone behind their backs. I couldn't think of anyone who really didn't like her. And if there was someone, it would have been an ex-boyfriend or someone like that.

She had a lot of those, ex-boyfriends I mean. Who could blame the guys for wanting her? She was very bubbly and outgoing. And, she loved to flirt. Besides that, she looked like a runway model with her long legs. She was 5 foot 7 inches tall and as skinny as a twig. She had black as night hair that was as straight as a pin all of the time that fell to the middle of her back. She wasn't one of those people who straightened their hair either, it was all natural.

Her eyes were a strange green color that all the guys said drove them crazy, that she was "intense" eyes. She only wore brown eyeliner to brighten her eyes a tiny bit, but other than that, she had no need for any make-up.

I, on the other hand, looked nothing like her. I had brown hair that was more of a mahogany color rather than brown. My hair fell just a mere 3 inches below my shoulders in loose curls. I was short, especially compared to Jasmine. I stood at 5 feet 1 inch, with an hour glass shape. My stomach was flat due to the daily running I did, but I had "birthing hips." Sure, guys liked the way I looked, but putting on skinny jeans was its own dance.

When we were younger, I always wanted to get contacts that looked like Jasmine's eyes but I've learned to like my eyes. They are a dark brown that are very "mesmerizing" according to an old boyfriend I dated last year.

"I asked you what you're doing this Friday," Jasmine rolled her eyes as we walked to our lockers. We'd just gotten out of my car in the school parking lot when I zoned out. Our lockers were in the middle of Senior Hallway, the craziest hallway in the entire school. It's basically the worst hallway in the school and the hardest one for anyone to walk down.

"Why are you thinking about Friday already, it's only Monday morning," I laughed. She wasn't the type that took school serious enough to care what day it was. Somehow, she still managed to get at least a B+ in all of her classes…without studying. I, on the other hand, average a B+ with 6 hours of studying. She was a genius but refused to ever take the AP testing for math or science classes because AP classes were too much work in her mind even though they basically guarantee acceptance to any school in the country.

"Because I want something to look forward to and to think about in class," she smiled.

"How can you not pay attention in class? Especially in Statistics and Probability," I shook my head in disbelief. "That class is hard enough for me and I actually pay attention."

"I don't know," she shrugged. "Math comes easy to me." She glanced to her left and smiled at someone walking past us.

"Was that Josh?" I asked in shock. She nodded. "Since when do you have a thing for wrestlers?" She'd always said wrestlers were "deep in the closet."

"Since I realized how cute they were," she smiled again. "And how not far in the closet they really are. They are cuter than the football players but maybe not the lacrosse team. Definitely better than the soccer team, that's for sure."

I rolled my eyes at her guy obsession. She always talked about guys, not that could really blame her. She always had a boyfriend or was _talking_ to someone. She was more into just talking and hanging out with guys rather than dating them. I was more for having a relationship.

When I was a little girl, I loved all of those princess stories. Now, all I read are books by Nicholas Sparks. Why can't all guys be as romantic as him or as romantic and sweet as the musician Bruno Mars? I'm looking for that one true love.

Anyways, someone I'd never seen before was talking to the secretary in the main office as we walked by it. He was cute, to say the least/ He happened to catch eyes me with and shared a small smile.

"Who was that?" Jasmine asked. I didn't think she'd even noticed him with how deep in her own conversation about wrestlers she was.

"I have no idea," I put my hand on my stomach. When his eyes met mine, my stomach flipped and I felt…nervous. But in a good way. It was almost as if I had met him before today, but that can't be, I would have definitely remember a face like his.

"Well he was wicked cute," she smiled again.

"Should you be calling someone cute when you're talking to Josh? Wouldn't that be kind of disrespectful to him?"

"I guess, but it's not like we're dating. He probably calls a lot of girls cute and hot, so…anyways, about Friday, what are you and Tyler doing?" Tyler was my boyfriend.

"I don't know yet, what'd you have in mind?"

"I was thinking me, you, Tyler, and Josh could go to that concert Friday night at Lupo's," Jasmine suggested.

"That sounds good; I'll ask Tyler if he wants to go." I bent over to grab my Anatomy book out of my locker when I felt a pair of hands on my waist.

"Ask me what?" I turned to see Tyler standing in front of me with his hands on my waist. Tyler was much taller than me standing 5 foot 11 inches and me only being 5 foot 1. My head rested nicely against his shoulder.

He was built too, like you're typical high school quarterback. Sometimes it makes me wonder how I managed to get him. The time that Tyler and I had started talking was the same time the captain of the cheer squad, Gianna, had taken an interest in Tyler.

"Hey," I smiled and kissed him lightly. I had to stand on the tips of my toes to kiss him. "Jasmine wants us to go to that concert at Lupo's Friday night with her and Josh."

"That sounds good to me," he smiled, put his arm around me, and pulled me close to his body. His body was warm against mine, meaning he had been here longer than me since it was freezing outside.

Josh walked by at that moment and Jasmine was at his side in seconds. "Bye guys," she waved and walked off with him.

"So, since when do you actually come to school on time?" I asked Tyler was we walked to class; his was next door to mine.

"Since my mom's working nights now, she's home in the morning and makes me go now. She never knew I used to skip first period before," he explained with his arm still around my waist.

Since his mom worked during the day, she would leave at 6:30 in the morning to be in work for 7. She passed out medication to patients are a nursing home so she was always busy and never had time to take phone calls from the school when they called to tell her that her son wasn't in first period.

Tyler used to skip first period almost every day since the beginning of the year back in September. He'd sit at home and watch TV until it was 10 minutes before the end of first period.

"Did I ever tell you how beautiful you are?" Tyler asked with a smile on his cute face.

I smiled and kissed him softly on the lips. "Have I ever told you how much of a sweetheart you are?" I wrapped my arm around his waist from the side while his arm was wrapped around mine. "Do you know what today is?"

"It's our 8 months, of course," he smiled, obviously proud of himself for actually remembering.

"You remember," I was genuinely happy that he remembered.

"Of course I did, 8 months ago today was the probably one of the best days of my life. And, the most nerve racking day of my life." It was the day of his big volleyball tournament so he was nervous about losing.

When his team ended up winning the gold in the tournament, Tyler, Jasmine, Tyler's friends Nick and Lucas, and my other friend Isabella all went out for ice cream. We were all walking along the beach when Tyler pulled me away for a little while. We walked together, holding hands and talking, for a few minutes before he stopped and kissed me softly at the shore. That's when he asked me to be his girlfriend.

"Yo, Ty!" A voice called out from behind us. It was Tyler's best friend Lucas, who, ironically, always had to show up at the worst moments and distract Tyler.

The instant his name was called, Tyler's arm left my waist. "I'll see you later," he said to me without a second glance and walked over to his friends. "What's up dude?"

I sighed in annoyance and walked to class without him. He always does things like that around his friends.

"Why do you put up with his shit?" Jasmine asked as she and Josh walked over. They were both in my first period Anatomy class, which was the classroom we were all standing outside of.

"I don't know," I shrugged and watched him and his friends walk away together…even though his first class was next door to mine. "He really is a nice guy."

"Mhm, that's why he ditches you for his friends," Jasmine rolled her eyes and walked off into class with Josh at her side. I watched as Tyler walked further away from class and closer to the stairs to go downstairs and to the parking lot. I sighed heavily, disappointed that he was still skipping and ditching me as well, and turned to walk into class.

"He left didn't he," Jasmine said the second she saw my face when I walked into the class. I sat in the desk to the left of her and Josh sat in the one in front of her. For someone who liked her, he was really quiet when other people were around them.

"Yeah," I answered with obvious disappointment in my voice. Tyler was always skipping class with Lucas and their friend Nick. They used to go over his house after Tyler's mom had already left for work. Tyler's been suspended 5 times this year for skipping. "He's just gonna fail this class since he never goes to it." He had Life Science next door this period.

"Oh well, that's his problem to deal with, not yours." But I couldn't help but want to do something about it. That's just the kind of person that I was.

I was a very caring person and everyone knew it. If someone had a problem, they always knew they could come to me for advice and I would always try my best to help them out. I always wanted to help Tyler and I used to try and talk to him about not skipping anymore but it never worked.

The bell rang and in walked the teacher. Our teacher loved to give notes, which sucked, but he was a really laid back person and hardly gave homework or yelled at someone. Unfortunately, when he turned on the projector that he used for notes, we all knew to take out our notebooks because everything he'd give us for notes would be on the big test we had coming up.

I went to grab my notebook from my bag when I that feeling of being watched rushed over me. I quickly glanced around the room, hoping to lock eyes with someone just to prove I wasn't just being paranoid but no one was looking at me.

"What's wrong?" Jasmine whispered to me when she noticed the look on my face. "You look like you saw a ghost.

"I wish I saw a ghost. That would at least explain this feeling I keep having about being watched. Do you ever feel like you're being watched but no one is really watching you?" I asked quietly, making sure no one else in the class, except maybe Josh, could hear what I was saying.

"Yeah, everyone gets that feeling sometime in their life. Why do you look so scared?" She answered like it was no big deal…maybe it wasn't.

"Because I get that feeling so often that I feel like I'm being stalked or something," I answered honestly. "Not that I've actually ever seen anyone following me or anything like that…yet."

"I'm sure it's nothing, besides, you have big strong Tyler there to protect you," she laughed.

"Yeah, because he's always around," I laughed lightly and rolled my eyes, thinking about how if anything did ever happen to me, who's to say Tyler really would be around to help me.

"If it helps any, I get that feeling a lot too," Josh turned around to look at me. "It's normal."

"Thanks," I half-smiled. I'd never been a big fan of his; he was way too full of himself for being captain of the wrestling team, but him telling me that did help. There wasn't a chance we were both being stalked, right?

I was about to respond to him when the phone in the classroom started to ring. "Gabby, they want to talk to you in guidance," Mr. V, the teacher, said across the room to me. "You don't need a hall pass, you can just go down." It was just across the bridge connecting the two buildings of the school anyways.

As I was walking to guidance, that feeling was growing stronger in me about being watched. I wasn't paying attention to who was in front of me and walked right into someone halfway down the bridge.

"Gabby," Tyler said as he hands steadied me, squeezing my waist gently. "Where are you going?"

"I got called down to guidance," I explained, looking up at him, narrowing my eyes suspiciously. "Where are you going?"

"To class, surprisingly, right? Turns out I have a substitute teacher this period so it's basically like having a free period and I didn't want to waste that sitting at home," he smiled. I didn't really want to talk to him after how he just ditched me this morning and I made it very obvious. "I can tell you're mad at me."

_Clearly, doesn't take a genius to see that_, I thought to myself. "Let's not do this right now," I backed out of his arms that were around my waist. "I have to go."

"Talk later?" He asked, looking a little disappointed, but I really did have to go.

I nodded and made my way away from him and to the guidance office, feeling guilty for leaving him there like that.

"How can I help you?" The guidance secretary asked as I closed the door behind me. It felt like an oven in here with the heat on.

"Hi, my teacher told me that I was called down here," I said with a hint of confusion in my voice.

"Gabriella?" She asked with an eyebrow raised. She should know me by now; I was in here at least twice a week with college questions and things like that. "Mrs. Thomas would like to see you for a minute."

I walked around the secretary's desk and walked to my guidance counselor's office in the back.

"Ah, Gabby, come in," she said when she saw me walking towards her office. She was that spazzy hyper type of person who was always shaking or something. He office was small, with only enough room for her desk, 2 filing cabinets and two chairs that were crammed into the corner behind the door.

I walked into her office and there was a boy sitting in one of the chairs. It was the same boy that I'd seen in the office this morning walking into school. One look at him and I completely forgot about the guilt I felt for Tyler just a few moments ago.

"Gabby, this is Caleb Vinci, he's new here," she motioned to the boy in the chair. He was pretty cute with his curly brown hair that dangled sexily above his eyes and chocolate brown eyes. I smiled and waved at him. "His transcripts had the same classes that you were taking so I matched his schedule to yours."

Is it just me or is that kind of weird of her? "Ok," I said slowly, unsure of where this was really going.

"Since he has all the same classes with you…and since he's new here, it would be fantastic if you could show him around and introduce him to some people. It would be really great if you could," she said quickly. It makes me wonder how she can talk so fast and not suffocate from not taking a breath in between her sentences.

"Yeah that'd be fine," I smiled.

"I talked to your teacher for this period and excused the both of you for the rest of it so you can show him around the school," she handed me a pass that was scribbled on. I could hardly make out what it said but it looked something like "showing new student around" and then her signature. It was our hall pass.

"So, Gabby, is it?" Caleb asked as we walked out of the office.

"Yeah, it's short for Gabriella but everyone, even my teachers, calls me Gabby," I explained. "So let's start this tour. This floor is b2. Those stairs lead up to B3 and are the only ones that lead down to B1. This bridge is called the West Bridge and connects to A2, which is the science wing. It's basically a hallway. Nothing confusing." We walked down the B2 hallway. "This is the gym, these stairs also lead up to B3. This is the East Bridge. This will also take you to A2." We walked across the bridge and down a flight of stairs. "This is the cafeteria to the left and to the right is a tech/arts wing. That's basically it."

"That was really easy," he smiled. "Besides, if I need to know where my next class is, I can just follow you." He winked.

"Exactly," I smiled. "So, we have a half hour until next period and we really don't have to go to this period today. How about we walk around and if anyone asks what we are doing, we can still pretend I'm giving you a tour?"

"Sounds good to me," he smiled and walked next to me as we walked past the cafeteria and back upstairs.

"So, Caleb, where are you from?" I asked, looking up at him. He had to be at least 6 feet tall. He was taller than Tyler. "Like where'd you move here from?"

"I just moved back here from Italy."

"Italy? Did you have family there?" I was curious. I had some family in Italy still. They were very distant family though.

"No, it was part of a school program. I lived there for 3 years. But I lost my scholarship to their school when I failed Trigonometry and moved back here with my parents. I'm originally from Los Angeles."

"Why are you living here then?" I asked. "Like, why Rhode Island? This is the smallest state and it's not exactly anything like L.A."

"I know, but when I moved to Italy, my parents moved here because it seemed more homely with it being so small and all."

"Oh, that makes sense. What's Italy like?" I asked with envy.

"It's beautiful. It's very historic and just amazing. The people I went to school with were friendly and everyone really cherishes family. The culture is amazing and the sights are really something else," he explained. His eyes had a picture of amazement in them as he remembered everything.

"You're so lucky," I told him. "I've always wanted to travel to Europe. But I have family from Portugal and Italy so I've really wanted to go to those two countries the most. Though, I really want to go to Paris with it being the most romantic city on the planet."

"I'm sure you'd love it there," he smiled. "So, you've lived here you're whole life?"

"Yeah, I'm a true Rhode Islander, minus the whole accent thing," I laughed. "I can actually pronounce my "R's." Older Rhode Islanders were all know for not being able to say their "R's".

"So what's there to do around here in this tiny state?"

"Nothing really in the winter. I mean you can go snowboarding and skiing but that gets boring after the 3rd weekend going. I guess ice skating is fun, if you're actually good at it unlike myself. It's much more fun in the summer with the beaches and everything though."

"Then I guess I'll just have to hibernate til then," he smiled. His smile was gorgeous. His eyes were gorgeous. Well, he was gorgeous.

"Gabby?" A voice said from behind me, causing me to jump. I was pulled out my Caleb-is-so-gorgeous daydream.

I turned around to see Tyler standing there, looking rather jealous. Was he following me? "Aren't you supposed to be in class?"

"I asked to get a drink at the vending machine," Tyler pointed to the machine outside the gym. I hadn't noticed but we'd managed to walk back upstairs in front of the gym. "Why aren't you in your class?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Because my guidance counselor wrote me a pass to take him on a tour of the school for this period. Remember like 5 minutes ago when we ran into each other on the bridge and I told you where I was going. Anyways, he's new here," I motioned toward Caleb who was standing behind me. "Caleb, this is Tyler."

"Her boyfriend," Tyler said bitterly.

"Nice to meet you," Caleb said politely.

Tyler grunted, like the friendly person that he was, and turned his attention back to me. "See you 3rd period." We had 3rd period Gym together. He turned away quickly, not bothering to even get his drink out of the machine. It was sitting there so I decided to grab it for him so he didn't just waste his money like that.

"Why is he so mad?" Caleb asked when Tyler had finally turned to the left and walked over the bridge, out of earshot.

"He gets jealous easily," I rolled my eyes at the thought of Tyler. "He's been getting on my nerves lately with his friends and stuff. He knows he's on thin ice with me and he thinks I'm going to break up with him for the next guy I see."

"Then he should be happy to know that I have a girlfriend back in Italy," Caleb winked.

"Do you?"

"No, but if it makes him feel better about himself and you, we can pretend I do."

"That's really sweet of you, but Tyler can get over it," I smiled. Caleb seemed like a very sincere person…so basically the opposite of how Tyler's been acting lately. With that thought in my mind, I wondered to myself why I was comparing my boyfriend of 8 months to someone I had just met.

CHAPTER 2

The rest of the day consisted of me and Caleb walking into every class together, me saying "This is Caleb, the new student," to every teacher, and me saying "this is Caleb," to everyone I knew.

In gym, Tyler _accidently _spiked the ball at Caleb in volleyball, ironically. On top of that, Jasmine and our 2 other friends Maya and Isabella all got googly-eyed over him when I introduced them to him. Overall, you could say that today was one of those odd days you wish will never happen again.

"How was your first day?" Jasmine asked as the 4 of us left last period. Me, Jasmine, Caleb, and Isabella all had last period English together.

"It was…better than I expected," he hesitated at first; searching for the right words I'm guessing. There really weren't words that could describe today.

"I'll see you later guys, I have to stay after for Bio," Isabella said to me and Jasmine. "See you later Caleb," she said lightly touching his arm.

"Does she know she has a boyfriend?" Jasmine asked noticing her obvious flirting.

"Anyways," I ignored what Jasmine said. "How's your chest doing?" When Tyler "spiked" the ball, it hit his chest since he's got a few inches on Tyler.

"I'm doing OK," he said, rubbing the spot on his chest that was hit. When the ball hit him, it was the loudest smack I'd ever heard.

"Can I see where he hit?" I asked, curious about how much damage my stupid boyfriend did to this gorgeous boy.

"Sure," he said slowly. He pulled the collar of his shirt down.

There wasn't one mark on his chest. His skin was like porcelain. "There's no mark…there has to be a mark, he hit that ball so hard…" I said softly, running my hand over the spot that was hit.

"I'm tougher than I look," he winked. "But, here's my car, so I'll see you guys tomorrow."

"Bye," Jasmine and I said at the same time. We continued walking down the parking lot toward my car.

"He had some really nice muscles," Jasmine was recalling when he pulled his shirt down. "I mean, from what I saw. You're the one that was practically feeling up his chest."

"Shouldn't you be saying that about Josh? And I was _not_ feeling him up. I was just touching the spot that I saw the ball smack."

"He's a wrestler, there's no muscle there with him cutting weight. But, Caleb, OHEMGEE, I can't say I blame you for feeling the boy up. He's just sexy. Like Abercrombie model sexy…but sexier." I really think she had a slight guy obsession that may be a problem.

"You don't find it a little weird that he had no mark on his chest at all? Like not even a tiny red mark or anything," I just couldn't get over that, not to mention I wanted to change the subject of how "sexy" Caleb is.

"Maybe Tyler just hit it like a bitch," Jasmine suggested.

"That wouldn't make sense if you'd been there. I was standing on the other side of the gym and I could hear the sound it made when it hit him. It was LOUD. Besides, Tyler's one of the best quarterbacks and volleyball players in this state, there's no way he hits like a bitch." I unlocked my door and just as I was getting in, Tyler walked over.

"You're talking about what happened in gym, aren't you?" He guessed, obviously hearing what I'd just said. I nodded. "I didn't do it on purpose. I was just playing the game. And I _don't_ hit like a bitch." He shot Jasmine a look like he knew it was her who said it first. They never really got along very well.

"Oh yeah, that wasn't even a time when you could spike the ball but you figured out how to do it like that anyways," I pointed out.

"Guess I don't know my own strength. And, I'm just that awesome of a player," he smiled proudly.

"Clearly you're jealous of Caleb," Jasmine said from inside my car. "No one else would have spiked a ball like that just for fun…only out of jealousy."

"Why would I be jealous of him? I'm obviously better than him…looks included, right babe?"

"It's when you say things like that that you prove just how jealous you are," I pointed out. "And jealous is an _ugly_ trait to have."

"I'm not jealous, I know you'd never leave me for someone like him," Tyler wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed me. I kissed back, of course, but there wasn't that same spark that there'd been when we first started dating over the summer. "You still coming over tonight for dinner?"

"Yeah, I think so," I said as I climbed in my car. Since it was our 8 months, he promised to make me dinner. Tyler bent down and kissed me before I shut my door.

"Why don't you just dump his sorry-ass?" Jasmine asked the second my car door was shut.

"Because he's really not a bad guy. He knows how to make me laugh and he's never made me cry," I explained.

"The day he makes you cry, you better break up with him."

"Believe me, I will," I promised.

Later that night, I was sitting in Tyler's living room while he played 'Call of Duty' with Lucas. I had gotten to his house around 5, the time he told me to be there at for dinner. Only to my surprise when I got there that Lucas was there and there was no dinner. Tyler had completely forgotten about it and ended up having to call for pizza since there was nothing else to eat in his house.

"I'm just gonna go home, Tyler," I stood from the couch. "I can tell you're busy."

"No need for the attitude," Lucas said, not taking his eyes off the game.

"Baby, please stay, it's our anniversary," Tyler pleaded, still not taking his eyes off the game either.

"That's why I'm going home," I snapped and walked over to the front door. "It's our 8 months and you're busy playing videogames with your friend instead of spending time with your girlfriend."

Tyler quickly paused the game and walked over to me. He grabbed my hand before I could get the front door open and led me to his bedroom.

"I'm sorry baby," was the first thing he said when we were in his room. "I know tonight was supposed to be about us, but Lucas needed somewhere to stay tonight since his parents kicked him out for his grades."

"I know, but I never see you anymore," I responded. "I don't want to sound selfish, but it's _our_ anniversary and you're spending it with your friend and not me. I understand that Lucas needs somewhere to stay, but he practically lives here anyways. I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you left him alone out there for a little while."

"You're right," Tyler nodded, sitting down on his bed in front of me. "I'm sorry I haven't been spending time with you today. I really am. Forgive me?"

"I guess," I smiled slyly. "But you have to make it up to me sometime, soon."

"Well, we have time right now for me to make it up to you," he put his fingers in my belt loops and pulled me to him. His lips crashed against mine as his hands ran up and down my body.

We sat on his bed and kissed and talked for about an hour before my mom called and told me come home because it was getting late.

"See you tomorrow," Tyler kissed me one last time before I left.

"Wait, Tyler, can you be honest with me?" I asked just before I shut my car door. He nodded and I continued. "_Are _you jealous of Caleb? Because you have nothing to be jealous of. I hardly know him and _you're _my boyfriend."

"No," Tyler said threw his teeth which meant he was lying to me. I sighed, disappointed with his lying to me like that and drove home.

I was sitting in my car, thinking about Tyler and myself when I got a text from Jasmine.

Jasmine: Friday night, Lupo's at 8, don't forget!

Me: I won't, Tyler's definitely going. We had an amazing time tonight and I think everything's OK now. :)

Jasmine: Good! But, you should know he told Josh he wants to fight Caleb sometime because he's convinced you have a thing for Caleb.

Me: If he fights Caleb, I'm leaving him. Be sure Josh tells him that one if they wanna talk about us.

"So, who here knows what Mao Se Dung did that basically ruined him?" My Eastern Civilization teacher asked.

"He tried to make everyone farm during the day and make steel at night. To try and make Chine more advanced, like the Western countries," Caleb answered quickly. "But that failed miserably because half of them had no idea how to make steel and it was coming out terribly." The rest of us didn't know that at all.

"How'd you know that?" I whispered to him.

"I'm really good with history," he smiled. "Besides, we did this in my history class back in Italy already."

The same thing happened in math. We were doing mathematical expectation and he got every single problem done correctly. How does that make sense? He's never taken Prob. Stat. before, so he can_not_ say he that he already learned it back in Italy. He told me himself that he failed out of Trigonometry.

"Are you gonna tell me that you are really good at math too? Even though you've never learned this stuff before?" I asked after math class ended.

"No, just a quick learner," he winked. He just loved winking at me.

Wednesday, during English, our teacher sent us to the library to work on something for Hamlet, the play that we were reading.

"It's just so sad how Hamlet went crazy and broke poor Ophelia's heart," Jasmine said as we sat around a table. It was Jasmine, Isabella, Maya, Caleb, and I.

"Then again she was the one who left him at first, remember?" Maya pointed out.

"But still, his craziness is what caused her so much heartbreak," Isabella backed up Jasmine.

"I don't think it really matters who broke who's heart," I said what I thought. "What I think really matters is that a great love was lost over something so little."

"She's right," Caleb spoke up for the first time since we got to the library. "But what _I_ think matters is that they were once in love. That's what's important in life, to love someone with all your might."

"Wow," Isabella said happily. "You're so romantic."

"Any _single_ girl would be happy to have you as their boyfriend," Maya emphasized the 'single' to remind Isabella that she had a boyfriend.

I looked at Caleb, expecting him to be looking at Maya and Isabella since they were gushing over him like little schoolgirls. But, to my surprise, he was looking at me, smiling.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing," he shook his head.

Later that day, I was sitting around when I got that strange feeling that I was being watched again.

"Now you're just being paranoid," Jasmine said when I brought it up.

"Babe," Tyler said, putting his arm around my waist. "No one is watching you, besides me." He gently kissed me. "Every guy knows not to look at my girlfriend. Especially Caleb."

"You don't own her, Tyler," Jasmine blurted out. "And you're doing that jealously thing again. She didn't even mention Caleb's name."

"I'm just saying all of this," he ran his hand up and down my sides, "is for me only." He was obviously ignoring the fact that she mentioned his jealousy thing again.

Jasmine rolled her eyes in disgust and went back to texting Josh. We were all sitting around in my living room, discussing the plans for Friday when there was a knock at my front door.

"Who would stop be here so late?" Jasmine asked. It really wasn't late, only 8:30, but still.

I looked through the peep hole to see Caleb standing on my porch. "Hey, what are you doing here?"

"I needed to ask you if you could help me with the Anatomy study guide. I need help studying," he sounded nervous. _Him,_ of all people, needing help studying for something? He was like a gorgeous genius and those were hard to come by around here.

"Tonight's no good for me, Tyler and Jasmine are here," I said just as Tyler appeared behind me in the doorway. He wrapped both his arms around me from behind.

"That's OK, I just stopped by to see if you could at all," Caleb said with a soft smile.

"Hi, Caleb," Tyler said bitterly then gently kissed my neck to irritate Caleb. I glanced at Caleb; he didn't look fazed at all.

"You can come by tomorrow after school though, if you want," I offered. "I'd love to have someone to study with since Jasmine never studies."

"That sounds good to me," Caleb smiled. "I'll see you tomorrow. Bye Tyler." Even though Tyler was consistently an ass to him, Caleb was still very kind and polite in return to my surprise.

"Could you possibly be a bigger ass?" I asked Tyler once I shut and locked the front door.

"What? A guy can't kiss his girlfriend's neck?" He smirked.

"No, not when I'm in the middle of a conversation, it's kind of, I don't know, _rude_," I replied. "You did that to piss him off, didn't you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." He had a smug look on his face like he felt satisfied about something.

I just rolled my eyes and just let it go. There was really no used in arguing with him anymore about this.

Later that night, I was about to fall asleep when I thought of something. How did Caleb know where I lived?

CHAPTER 3

"What time should I come over tonight?" Caleb asked as we sat in Anatomy. The teacher assigned Caleb the desk behind mine.

"Would you be able to just come over right after school?" I asked, turning around in my seat to face him. "There's a lot to cover and the earlier we start, the more we can get finished. I'll most like be exhausted and fall asleep on you."

"That's fine with me," Caleb smiled. Then it quickly faded from that gorgeous face of his. "What about Tyler?"

"What about him?" I cocked my head to the side in confusion. Caleb didn't usually care about Tyler.

"Is he going to be mad about us studying together?"

"Probably," I shrugged, thinking about how Tyler said he wants to fight Caleb sometime. "But he can just get over it."

Caleb smiled and went back to copying the notes he missed yesterday from my notebook. "I thought girls were supposed to have neat handwriting? I mean, how can you expect me to study from notes like this?" He was teasing me with that god-like smile on his face. He could pass as a Greek god in my book.

"Be quiet, I write quickly when I take notes," I glanced at my notebook. My handwriting wasn't that great but it was readable. "I'm sure your handwriting in a lot worse than mine." Looking back at what he was writing, I was proven wrong. He had much neater handwriting than I did.

"So, Caleb's just gonna follow us to your house?" Jasmine asked. She lived 3 houses over from me so I just drop her off at my house and she walks to hers. "He could ride with you and I could drive that sexy car of his." He had a mustang. She was in love with his car.

"Yeah, right," I laughed. "There's a reason I drive you now since you totaled your last 2 cars." Her parents bought her a '00 Camry and she totaled it starring at the "cute guy" next to her. The 2nd one was a Corolla (her dad's a car dealer for Toyota) and she did the same thing to that one the same way. The second time, the guy "just looked cute from a distance", according to her. But once she actually hit the pole and the guy got out of his car to help her, she realized he wasn't worth her attention.

"I wouldn't try and stare at hot guys in that car," she smiled. "They'd just be staring at me because that car is just amazing."

"No way he'd let you drive that," I laughed at the look on her face as it pulled into the empty space next to my car.

"Why not? He doesn't know my history," she smiled slyly and looked out the window when Caleb's car pulled up next to mine on her side.

"Ready when you are," Caleb smiled and rolled his window back up.

I was just about to shift into reverse when Tyler knocked on my window.

"What's up?" I asked, rolling it down.

"Oh nothing, just wondering why Caleb is parked next to you, waiting for you to pull out," Tyler asked, obviously pissed off. "Telling you that he's 'ready when you are'." He mimicked Caleb in a high pitched girly voice.

"He's studying at my house with me today," I answered. "You know that, you were there when I said it last night."

"I thought you were just being nice," he said through his teeth. "I didn't think you actually wanted to hang out with _him_."

"Oh calm down," I rolled my eyes. "Caleb is no threat to you." Too bad I was lying. Caleb was a whole lot better than Tyler's been lately. Though, was it really nice of me to use his recent behavior against him compared to the past 8 months? Oh, that's right, he's been like this on and off for the past 8 months.

"I'll stop by later tonight to say goodnight," he leaned in my window and kissed me goodbye. "Hopefully Caleb won't be there to late. Or else I might thing something was going on."

"He needs Valium or something to calm him down," Jasmine laughed as we watched Tyler glare at Caleb as he walked to his own car.

"He's just jealous," I pointed out.

"And he should be. Caleb's hot. No, sorry, he's sexy."

"Even so, he doesn't have to be so mean and crabby about it. It's really starting to get on my nerves," I pointed out as I started my car.

"You have a really nice house," Caleb said as we walked into my foyer.

"Thanks," I smiled, leading the way upstairs. At the foyer, you can either go upstairs or downstairs. "My mom decorated everything and my dad basically built it. You'll be able to meet them later tonight." Both of my parents were going to be at work until dinner time.

We walked into the kitchen and put our Anatomy stuff on the counter. There was a lot of it.

"You ready to get started?" Caleb asked, looking at all the stuff we had to study for.

"I guess so," I said, not looking forward to all of the studying that we had to do. Midterms were 2 months ago but our teacher liked to give us a huge test every 2 months on the stuff we' just done, which in this case were 3 chapters of notes and worksheets on the human body.

"This is just a ridiculous amount of work," Caleb blurted out once we finished the first 2 chapters. We had been studying for 2 hours and had managed to surprisingly memorize the majority of the first 2 chapters.

"How about we take a break and you help me cook dinner?" I suggested. "I figured you would be here for dinner so I already let my parents know."

Caleb smiled. "Sounds good to me. What are we having?"

"Steak, mashed potatoes, and a salad. You could help by lighting the grill outside for me," I smiled, handing him the lighter from the 'junk drawer'. "It's so cold out there. You wouldn't want a poor girl like me to freeze out there."

"Not at all, my dear," he smiled and took the lighter from me. My mom had already prepared the steaks before she left for work so he just carried them outside with the lighter.

While he was outside, I began peeling the potatoes and putting them in the boiling water. I was peeling the last potato when there was a bang on the first floor. I put the potato in the put and slowly walked downstairs, potato peeler in hand.

I checked my brother's room, which was empty due to him being away at college. I checked the office, the bathroom and the laundry room. All were normal with nothing missing or anything being out of place that would have caused the bang. The last room was the living room. The door to get into it was glass so I peaked in, everything looked normal, though there was a chill in the room.

I opened the door and turned the light on. Everything looked normal expect for a piece of paper sitting next to the open window. I opened the paper and felt my stomach turn with fear when I opened it.

Dear Gabby,

You are beautiful. I cannot seem to take my eyes off you whenever you are around.

-Anonymous

"Caleb!" I screamed for him as I got a feeling of being watched come over me suddenly.

"What's wrong?" He asked, rushing down the stairs. I showed him the creepy little note. "How'd someone get this in here?"

"My dog busted the screen on that window and my mom doesn't always remember to shut the window after she irons her clothes in here." Mentioning my dog made me wonder why he hadn't barked if someone was in here. Then I remembered that he was partially deaf and probably didn't hear anything since he was outside.

"You checked the rest of the rooms?" Caleb asked as he shut and locked the open window. I nodded. "OK, then it's just us here now. Gabriella, you're bleeding." His voice was soft and full of concern as he gently grabbed my right arm.

I looked down at my arm. "I must've cut myself when I heard the bang down here, it made me jump." I was so scared about someone being in my house that I didn't even realize I was in pain.

"Let's get u cleaned up," he said. We walked into the bathroom and I sat on the countertop. He grabbed the alcohol from the closet with a cotton swab and cleaned the cut up.

"Ow," I pulled my arm away from him. "That stings."

"And when it gets infected, it's going to sting more. Now stop being a baby and let me clean it," he pulled my arm back. He put a bandage over it from my mom's first aid kit that she kept in the closet.

His hand gently rubbed my arm around where the cut was, smoothing down the bandage.

He whispered something that I couldn't really make out. It sounded something like, "You're so soft."

"Hmm?" I asked, unable to really hear him.

"Huh?" He asked like he was just pulled back to reality. "Oh, nothing. Let's go finish making dinner." He grabbed my waist, helping me off the counter.

I put the note in my pocket. "Let's keep this between us, OK?"

"You don't think you should tell your parents?"

"Not yet," I said, walking back upstairs to the kitchen. "If whoever it was wanted to hurt me, they would have since they were already in my house.

That night at dinner, my parents asked Caleb about school in Italy and that's mainly all we talked about. Caleb didn't mention what had happened today at all.

After dinner, we moved to studying in my room while my parents cleaned up in the kitchen.

"Maybe it was just Tyler being an ass," I suggested when Caleb asked why I didn't want to tell my parents.

"Or, maybe it was a psycho killer," Caleb pointed out. "You need to be careful."

I ignored him and went back to my study guide.

"Gabby," my mom knocked at my door. "Tyler's here."

I got off my bed and opened my door. My mom smiled and walked back down the hall back to the kitchen.

"Hi Tyler," I smiled, hugging him.

"He's in your room, isn't he," Tyler said, not really bothering to hug me in return. He limply put one arm around me like I was someone he never met before. "Why is he in _your room_?"

"Stop being like this," I put my hands on his chest and looked up at him. "I don't like you when you act jealous."

"I'm sorry," his face softened and he put his hands on my waist, pulling me closer to him. "I just…I don't know. I'm sorry."

"It's OK," I smiled and kissed him softy. "But we still have a lot of studying to do, so I'll just talk to you tomorrow."

"OK, goodnight babe," Tyler smiled and kissed back one more time before walking back down the hallway and down the stairs to the front door.

"Is he mad?" Caleb asked as soon as I walked back into my room.

"Of course," I shrugged my shoulders. "He doesn't trust me."

"Why not?"

"He got really drunk one night with his friends when we first started dating back in July and cheated on me with a girl that was down here for summer break. He kept it from me for about a week before his guilt finally caught up with him. I forgave him but he still thinks I'm gonna cheat on him just because that's what he did to me," I explained as I sat down on my bed next to Caleb.

I started to fidget with my hands in my lap. When I looked up at Caleb, his beautiful brown eyes were gazing down at mine. I looked into his eyes and it felt like my heart stopped. Before I knew what was going on, his lips touched mine gently. It felt like electricity was flowing through my body and I kissed back.

Then I realized what I was doing. I pulled away from him. "We can't Caleb. I can't," I whispered. "Two wrongs don't make a right."

He took a deep breath. "You're right. Let's pretend this didn't happen."

"Deal," I smiled and he returned that smile but something was different about it. It didn't like up like it usually did.

He could act like nothing happened all he wanted but there was no denying the tension that was in the air the rest of the night. He hardly said two words to me the rest of the time that he was at my house.

"What's up with you and Caleb?" Jasmine asked in Anatomy the next day after the test, which was much easier than all the studying I did last night.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, acting like I couldn't feel the tension. "There's nothing going on with us."

"Whatever you say," she rolled her eyes. "I can tell there's tension between the two of you. I happen to know you guys kissed last night."

"What, how'd you know that?" My eyes went wide.

"You just told me right now," she winked. I hated when she did that to me. "Tyler cheated on you so you can cheat on him. It's only fair."

"No it's not," I responded. "I feel bad but we are just gonna pretend it never happened and I'd love it if you did the same." Only, I was lying to myself. I _didn't_ feel all that bad about it like I thought I would.

As the day went on, the tension between us lifted and Tyler never once suspected a thing.

The rest of the week, Caleb and I hardly said two words to each other except for in class discussions and situations like that. Caleb had a look about him like he was heartbroken and maybe he was. But, the boy had girls all over him all day, every day. And it's not like he did much to get them off him either.

CHAPTER 4

"This line sucks," Jasmine said, clearly annoyed, as we waited in line to get into the concert. It was freezing waiting in this line. Sure, it was 45 degrees, which is much warmer than it has been, but it's still pretty cold for people who only lived for the summer…like myself and Jasmine. This was torture to us.

"Are you cold, babe?" Tyler asked. No, I was just shivering for the hell of it.

"Yes," I shivered. He put his arm around me and snuggled me closer to his body. His body was much warmer than mine, thankfully.

Eventually, after a half an hour of waiting in the cold, we were finally able to get inside Lupo's.

"Josh and I are gonna go grab some sodas," Tyler kissed my cheek before walking away from the stage. We were standing in a big crowd surrounded by obnoxious drunk college girls who had less clothes on then people did at a beach, waiting for the band to come out.

"Here ya go, babe," Tyler handed me a cup of Pepsi and kissed my cheek. "I saw Lucas and Nick on my way over here so Josh and I are gonna chill with them."

"Oh, OK," I said sadly and full of disappointment but they were already gone before the words were out of my mouth.

"Can't believe Tyler did that to you…again…for the literally, 200th time," Jasmine said just as the band came out. Everyone started to cheer so we had to yell over each other. "Not that I'm keeping track."

"I know," I said sadly. "But Josh basically just ditched you too."

"Yeah, but he's not my boyfriend, of 8 months might I add, so it's not that big of a deal," she shrugged. She had a good point though. "Plus, Josh invited us here. Well, me, and invited you guys. It's OK for Josh to go off, but Tyler basically blew off the reason he's even at this concert."

"Good point," I said glumly, suddenly losing my interest in being here all together.

"Hey, isn't that Caleb over there?" Jasmine asked, pointing to a tall boy talking to a girl across the club.

"I think so," I asked, trying to see over people. Damn, I hated being so shot at time like these.

"Let's go say hi," Jasmine grabbed my arm and dragged me over to him. "Hey, Caleb!" She yelled over the music the band had already started to play.

"Hey guys," he said when he noticed it was us. It was almost impossible to hear him over everyone's screaming and yelling for the band, which I have to admit wasn't that bad. I smiled at him. I caught eyes with the girl he was talking to and she did not look happy to see us. She stormed off.

"What's her problem?" Jasmine asked.

"She was just trying to talk me into going back to her sorority house with her," Caleb laughed. Wow, was his laugh heartwarming.

"Geez Caleb, you've only been here a week and you're already getting the college girls," Jasmine joked.

Something in me sparked and I was suddenly mad that he had girls hitting on him.

"Yeah, too bad for them. I happen to already have my eye on someone else," he glanced at me. "Where's your boyfriend?" I couldn't tell if he glanced at me like that because he was talking about me or because he was asking me a question. Maybe both?

"Who knows, he ditched me for his friends again," I answered. "Who are you here with?" I couldn't imagine Caleb being here by himself.

"My cousin actually," he pointed across the club at a boy flirting with that same college girl that was just hitting on Caleb. "He lives with me."

"I'm gonna go find Josh, I'll be right back," Jasmine said as she slipped past a few people in the crowd, leaving Caleb and I standing there together awkwardly.

"This band is just so amazing," I smiled. "The lead singer is too gorgeous. He has such an amazing voice."

"_You're_ gorgeous," he smiled when I looked up at him.

"Thanks," I blushed, pushing a piece of my hair behind my ear.

"You always put your hair behind your ear when you're embarrassed," he pointed out, which was true, and grabbed my hand delicately before I could put it back down from my hair.

"Are you kidding me?" A voiced yelled from behind me.

"Tyler!" I yelled in surprise and embarrassment when I saw him. I pulled my hand away from Caleb's as quickly as I could. Of course, he picks the perfect time to actually come see me.

"Is there any reason why you're holding my girlfriends hand?" Tyler yelled, getting in Caleb's face, pushing him against the wall. When Caleb didn't respond, Tyler swung at him, connecting his fist with Caleb's jaw.

Tyler backed off and Caleb put his hand to his cheek that was bleeding.

"Tyler, leave him alone!" I cried, trying to grab onto Tyler's arm to hold him back from hitting Caleb again.

Tyler pushed me away, causing me to land on my side. Jasmine and Josh were at my side in seconds.

"OHEMEGEE, Gabby, are you OK?" Jasmine asked as she and Josh helped me up. Of course, by now, the entire place had noticed the little fight going on.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine," I responded, steading myself. I looked around and saw Tyler trying to hit Caleb again. "Tyler! Stop, _please_! For me? Please just stop." I started crying.

Tyler ignored my pleas and went back after Caleb. Tyler lifted his right hand and to swing at Caleb again. I watched as Caleb grabbed Tyler fist before it hit his face and pushed it back. Clearly, Tyler didn't learn and went to hit him again. Caleb caught his fist, again, and threw him at least 10 feet away. Tyler landed flat on his ass.

"We're over," I walked away from him, wiping my tears. "I told Jasmine that the day you made me cry was the day I was breaking up with you. Today was that day." I left Tyler there, on the floor, in the hands of his precious friends, and made my way to where Caleb was.

"Caleb," I said, grabbing his arm gently as he was walking away. "I'm so sorry about that. I really am."

"Oh, Gabriella, you have nothing to be sorry for," he said taking my hand in his.

"Let's go back to my house and clean you up," I offered.

"Ok," he smiled. I told Jasmine that I was going to take Caleb to my house and she said she was going to Josh's anyways. Then she continued to tell me to "have a good time and use protection because Caleb was too irresistible to not sleep with after watching him fight like he just did."

We made it back to my house and no one was home. My parents had gone out to dinner and to see a late movie with Jasmine's parents.

I touched the cotton ball to his cheek and he flinched.

"It's going to hurt more when it's infected," I mocked just as he had when it stung my cut when he tried to clean mine on my arm earlier in the week.

"Very funny," he half-smiled and flinched again when I went to clean it some more to make sure it didn't get infected.

"You're going to have a nice black and blue mark tomorrow morning," I said, examining his cheek where he was hit. "A small one, but it'll still be there."

"Damn," he said under his breath.

"You know what makes no sense?" I asked when I finished cleaning up his busted cheek. "How you can take a hard smack to the chest but you can't take a hit to the face at all. And Tyler was clearly drunk."

"I guess my face isn't as tough as it looks," he smiled.

"That's a shame, we can't have that pretty face of yours looking like that all the time," I joked and winked.

"Then I guess I'll just have to stop fighting your boyfriends," he shrugged with that beautiful smile of his shinning again. "I'm happy you broke up with him. I just wish it was under nice, less violent circumstances."

"I wish it was, too" I agreed.

We walked out of the bathroom and into the family room. Before either of us could sit down on one of the couches, I touched his arm to get his attention.

"Caleb," I sighed. "I'm really sorry about Tyler. I just feel so bad about what he did to you."

"Oh, Gabriella," the way he said my name was heavenly. He put his hand on my cheek and slowly caressed it. "Fighting over you was worth it, especially after the way he made you cry tonight. No one should ever make such a beautiful girl like you cry…over anything."

I felt my face heat up in embarrassment and I turned to sit on the couch. He looked around the room and noticed the radio my parents had sitting in the corner. He turned it on and a slow, romantic song was playing.

Caleb walked back over to me and held out his hand. I placed my hand in his and he gently kissed it. "May I have this dance, malady?"

I smiled and stood up with him. He held my right hand in his left and placed his right hand on my waist, pulling me closer to his body. I put my hand on his shoulder and smiled. We started to ballroom dance with him leading.

"Where'd you learn to ballroom dance?" I asked as we continue to dance.

"I picked it up in Italy," he said with a smile. Something in his eyes told me he wasn't telling me the whole truth but I was having too much fun to think twice about it.

We danced until the song ended and when it did, we didn't let go of each other. The hand on my waist pulled me closer as he let go of my hand it placed his hand on my waist. I put my other hand on his chest.

His right hand traveled from my hip, up my arm, and caressed my face softly. "Gabriella," he whispered and kissed my cheek. "You," he kissed the base of my neck, whispering softly against my skin. "Are," he kissed my jaw line softly. "Beautiful." Finally, his lips connected with mine. It was as if our lips were made for each other and just molded together perfectly. When his lips touched mine, I felt that amazing feeling of electricity flowing through my body just as I had the first time he kissed me in my room.

My hands wrapped around his neck, tangling one hand in his soft curls, drawing our bodies closer together. His hand on my waist tightened its grip and his other hand was intertwined in my hair, deepening the kiss.

Slowly, he backed our bodies onto the couch until I was lying down. He crawled on top of me, not once breaking the kiss.

"Caleb," I sighed when he kissed my neck. I had never experienced a kiss like that before. Something inside of me didn't want it to end and I was saddened when it finally did. "Where are you going?" I asked when he suddenly stood up, pulling me up to my feet with himself.

"You're parents are home," he answered. "And I'm not supposed to be here, remember? I'll call you later, if you're still awake." He slipped out the back door just as my parents walked in the front door.

Quickly, I ran into the kitchen to make it seem like I just got home.

"Gabby, are you home?" My mom called.

"Yeah, I just got home," I answered, fixing my hair. Caleb's fingers running through it made a mess out of it.

"The concerts already over?" My dad asked when he noticed it was only 11 o'clock. "I thought you'd at least be out somewhere with Jasmine."

"No," I answered slowly. "Tyler got into a fight with Caleb…so I left. By myself." Smooth, adding that last part didn't make me sound guilty or suspicious of anything, right?

"Wait, what?" My mom sounded confused. "Tyler fought Caleb? Caleb seems like such a nice kid. Why would any ever want to fight him?

"He is," I agreed. "But Tyler got really jealous when he saw Caleb holding my hand. Well, not _holding _it like that. But, nonetheless, Tyler swing at Caleb, hitting once. Then Tyler swung again, Caleb threw Tyler's fist back. Tyler tried again and got tossed across the club like a ragdoll. So, in the end. I did break up with Tyler."

"Good," my dad said with a hint of anger in his voice, good thing I didn't mention the fact that Tyler knocked me on my ass. "I never really liked that kid."

I was about to walk to my room to go to bed when I remembered my parents car was here when I came home.

"How'd you guys get home?" I asked curiously.

"We went out with Jasmine's parents so we just walked here from their house since they drove the whole night," my mom answered, placing her earrings she'd just taken out on the kitchen counter. "Why?"

"Just wondering," I said absent mindedly. When Caleb told me my parents were home, I just figured he'd seen the car headlights pulling in. If they didn't drive, how'd he know?"

CHAPTER 5

I woke up in the middle of the night to a loud thump coming from the small deck I had outside my window. I turned my lamp on and walked to my window.

There was no one on the deck or anywhere around that I could see. But, there was another note taped to my window.

Dear Gabby,

I saw what Tyler did to you tonight. Good thing he's out of your life. He'll be gone permanently soon enough.

-Anonymous.

My hands started shaking and I quickly locked every window and door in my room. I grabbed my phone and dialed the first number I could think of.

"Gabby, do you have any idea what time it is?" Caleb asked when he picked up the phone.

"Not really, no," I said panicky.

"It's 4 in the morning." Caleb sounded sleepy. "You don't sound too good. Are you OK?"

"Yeah, I'm OK, just a little shaken up," I paced back and forth in my bedroom.

"What? Why? What happened?" Caleb sounded tremendously concerned.

"I…there was another note taped to my bedroom window."

"Did you see anyone outside?"

"No, there wasn't anyone there," I walked back to my window and looked outside.

"I'm coming over," he said firmly.

"You don't have to do that. Plus, if my parents find you here-"

"I'll leave before they wake up," he cut me off. "I want to make sure you're OK."

I sighed. "OK, hurry up though."

Caleb was there in less than 3 minutes. "My parents are asleep so be quiet," I warned as we quietly tip-toed back to my bedroom.

"Where's the letter?" Caleb asked as soon we were in my room.

I handed him the letter and watched his face change to worried and angry as he read it.

"Whoever is doing this was at the club tonight," Caleb pointed out.

"I know, but there were so many people there tonight, most of them I didn't know at all," I responded, holding my pillow against my body.

"I don't think it could be Tyler playing a joke on you," Caleb said to my disappointment. "I mean, why would he write a note about himself?"

"Because he's full of himself?" I suggested.

"I know that," Caleb smiled. "But I still don't think it's him."

"Well, whoever it is needs to stop," I said as Caleb sat down next to me on my bed.

"I'll find out that it is," Caleb put his hands on my shoulders and slowly slid them down my arms. "You should get some sleep." He kissed my shoulder softly.

"Will you stay with me until my parents wake up?" I whispered as I lay down on my bed. Caleb lay down behind me. "You'll be able to hear them."

"Yeah," he whispered back.

I turned over so my head rested on Caleb's chest. His right arm wrapped around my body while his left hand was interlocked with mine.

I was drifting off to sleep when Caleb whispered something almost inaudible. It sounded something like, "I'm always going to protect you even though it's not my job anymore," though I'm sure I just dreamt that last part.

I woke up a little after 8 the next morning. The cool March breeze was blowing in my window that had another note attached to it. My heart quickened thinking it was another one like last night but I quickly recognized Caleb's handwriting.

_I know it's kind of mean of me to leave without waking you but you looked so peaceful that I didn't want to wake you. If you need anything, please do not hesitate to ask me._

_ -Caleb_

_P.S I fell asleep, overslept, and made it outside just as your dad was getting the newspaper. He caught me on your lawn and I told him I just needed to ask you about the English homework, so please cover for me. (: _

When I walked downstairs, I found my mom making breakfast.

"Caleb stopped by this morning," my dad said when he noticed me in the kitchen. "He said he needed to know what the English homework was. I don't know why he thought you'd be up at 6:30 in the morning or why he couldn't just text you or something…"

"His phone broke," I said the first thing that came to mind. "And that's my fault; I told him I'd be awake. He couldn't come later because he's going somewhere with his family."

"I don't like that kid," my dad said suddenly.

"Who? Caleb?" I arched an eyebrow.

"Yeah," he nodded, taking a sip from his coffee. "There's something…odd about him. He's too nice and too polite."

"Don't listen to your father," my mom interjected. "He's just mad that he's not Tyler."

I smirked at my dad and grabbed some toast off the table. Just as I sat down to eat, my phone went off. It was Jasmine.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked when I picked up the phone.

"Gabby, turn the TV on the news," she said out of breath.

"What? Why?"

"Just do it!" She urged.

I grabbed the remote off the table and turned the TV on in the kitchen.

"Early this morning, a young man was attacked outside of his home," the news reported said. "The young man, Tyler Danvers, was walking around his house at 4 in the morning to 'cool off' after getting into a fight at Lupo's earlier in the night with a boy named Caleb."

"I'll call you later…" I hung up the phone.

"Tyler was attacked last night?" My mom asked.

"I guess so," I nodded, not looking away from the screen.

"He was found unconscious this morning by the paperboy. We are told that he is going to be OK. Police do not know who did this," the reported continued. "Tyler's friends tell us he only had problems with one person, this mysterious Caleb."

"They can't possibly think Caleb did this," I said to Jasmine later that day. We were sitting in Friendly's eating grille cheese for lunch. Everyone around us was talking about what had happened. "He would never do something like this."

"Well, you saw how he defended himself last night," Jasmine slurped her soda.

"Yeah, he _defended_ himself at the club last night," I pointed out. "Besides, I happen to know he was nowhere nears Tyler's at 4 in the morning."

"And how do you know that?" Jasmine arched an eyebrow at me.

"Because he was at my house," I blushed.

"Oh? Did he not leave at all last night?"

"He left around 11 and I couldn't sleep so I called him. I'd woken him up when I called him and asked him to come over."

"Are you guys, like, together now?" She whispered. "I mean, you just broke up with Tyler but it'd be totally understandable if you were. He is very godly."

"No, we aren't together now," I narrowed my eyes at her then laughed. "I have to agree, he is _very _godly. I've never seen someone as beautiful as him."

"I knew it!" She yelled. Everyone looked at us. "Oops," she shrugged and lowered her voice.

"Knew what?"

"That you have a thing for Caleb.

I looked at her and tried to tell her, and myself, that I had no interest in Caleb but there was no denying that I had a thing for him. She always knew when I was lying, too. "Yeah, I do."

"You guys kissed didn't you," she squealed.

"She, I don't want anyone to know. Keep this between us and Caleb, please."

"Of course, I won't say a word to anyone."

"So, how are you and Josh?" I asked, wanting to change the subject.

She went on to tell me how amazing their night was and how he stayed at her house until practically 3:30 in the morning.

"Hello?" I asked when I picked up my ringing phone.

"H sweetie," it was my mom. "Tyler's parents just called the house looking for you. Tyler's awake and he's asking to see you."

"Oh, OK, I guess I can stop by there."

"Who was that?" Jasmine asked when I hung up the phone.

"My mom," I put my phone back in my purse. "Tyler's awake and he's asking for me."

"Looks like we're taking a trip to the hospital."

CHAPTER 6

"Can I help you?" A nurse sitting behind a counter asked me as I walked into the ER with Jasmine.

"Uh, hi, I'm looking for Tyler Danvers," I answered.

"Relation?" She asked.

"Um, ex-girlfriend…" I answered slowly.

"Sorry honey, only family is allowed to see him until they figure out who attacked him last night," she answered sympathetically.

"Really? My mom called me and told me Tyler's been asking for me."

"Are you Gabriella?" She asked. I nodded. "Can I see your ID, just for precaution?" I handed her my license and she examined it closely, like it could be fake or something. "OK, you can go in, but she-" she looked at Jasmine. "-has to stay here. I'll show you to his room."

Jasmine sat in the waiting room while I followed the nurse to his room. She told me to wait outside.

A few seconds later, Tyler's parents were out of the room. "He's been asking for you since he woke up," Mr. Danvers informed. "We'll give you guys a few minutes alone."

I hesitated at first but walked into the hospital room. "Tyler?" I asked when I walked in. He didn't look like he was awake.

His eyes slowly opened and he smiled when he saw me. "Hi, Gabby."

"How are you feeling?" I asked, walking closer to his bed.

"Better," he motioned to the IV in his hand. "They have me all drugged up so I can't feel anything."

"What's the damage?"

"My left leg's broken, left arm's broken 3 broken ribs, and a concussion."

"Oh, Tyler, that's terrible," I was now sitting in the chair at his bedside. His right eye was black and blue. He had a cut on his cheek like the one he gave Caleb. "Do you remember who did this to you?"

"No," he shook his head slowly. "I went out with Lucas and Nick after the fight with Caleb…and after you _dumped _me," the words stung. "We were drinking…a lot. I didn't get home until quarter to 4 and my parents flipped out on me. I waited until I was less drunk to go home. My parents freaked when I told them about the fight. I was still pissed off so I went outside to go for a walk like I always do to cool off. I went for my walk and felt like I was being watched so I cut it short and went back home."

"Y-you felt like you were being watched?" I interrupted.

"Yeah, so like I said, I went back home. I was almost to my porch when someone jumped me from behind. That's the last thing I remember before being knocked out."

"That's terrible." I didn't know what else to say.

"The police already questioned me and I told them I had no idea who could have done it," he explained. "Though, you and I both know who did it."

I glared at him. "I know Caleb didn't do it."

"How can you be so sure? You saw what he did to me earlier that night."

"You know he was just defending himself from you. Besides, he has no motive."

"Oh yeah?" Tyler smiled slyly. "What if he wanted, I don't know, some sort of revenge for me going after him at the club?"

"I'd think you were crazy if you believe that," I smirked. "Besides, Caleb has an alibi anyways."

"What makes you so damn sure about that?"

"He was with me," I smiled.

"You're a bitch," his voice went dark. "You dump me, in the middle of a club, and then go spend the night with the one kid I can't stand to piss me off?"

"No, I dumped you in the middle of a club because you tossed me across the room and scare me half to death…and then spent the night with the boy who was there for me when you weren't."

"Whatever, Gabby," he said sadly, looking away from me.

"Ty," I said slowly. "Why were you asking for me when you woke up?"

"Because I wanted to talk to you about your little friend Caleb and to tell you that he was the one who attacked me. But, clearly, I was mistaken."

"Oh," I nodded. "I should get going…but seriously, if you find out anything, please let me know."

"I will," he agreed.

CHAPTER 7

Sunday morning, my parents left for a "2nd honeymoon" in St. Thomas, leaving me home alone. I called Jasmine to see if she could come over but she was spending the day with Josh. So, I called Caleb. He was at my house in less than 5 minutes.

"Hello there," he smiled as we walked into my house.

"Hello," I smiled and winked at him, mocking him. "You always sound so proper."

"That is just how I was brought up," he shrugged and sat down on my couch.

"Well your parents must be great people because they raised a great son," I smiled and joined him on the couch.

"They are," he agreed and moved closer to me and put his arm about my shoulder.

I turned to look at him and something caught my eye. The clear skin on his face without _any _marks on it. "Caleb, what happened to your face? There are no marks on it."

"What? I can't have good skin?"

"You know what I'm talking about. You got punched in the face 2 nights ago, you should at least be red or bruised," I pointed out, touching the sport where he was hit.

"I don't know what to tell you," he shrugged.

I didn't want to get him mad so I changed the subject. "I went to see Tyler yesterday in the hospital."

"How's he doing?" Caleb sounded genuinely concerned.

"He's doing better," I assured him. "He's convinced it was you that did it though."

"Me?" Caleb sounded shocked. "Why?"

"Tyler's convinced that you didn't get enough of him at the club and wanted to take revenge or whatever."

"You don't believe him do you?"

"No, besides, police said he was attacked around the time you were with me."

"Oh yeah, that was the night you got that note and asked me to come over and protect you," he smiled.

I thought about what the note had said. "Caleb, remember how the note said Tyler would be out of my life permanently soon enough?"

He nodded and his face turned serious. "You don't think that whoever's leaving you notes is the same person who attacked Tyler, do you?"

"I do," I nodded my head. "He was attacked maybe ten minutes after I found that note on my window."

"So, if that's the case, whoever attacked him wanted him dead."

"He was passed out when they found him yesterday morning. Maybe whoever did it thought he was dying when he passed out."

"Maybe but if they watch the news, they know he's still alive."

"He's still safe in the hospital though. Until they find who did it, no one but family is allowed to see him. And me because he'd been asking to see me."

"Gabby, we really need to tell someone about this," Caleb said, taking my hand in his.

"No, not yet. Everyone's been through enough right now. The only suspect they have right now is you and I don't need them thinking you're the psycho leaving me creepy notes."

"Gabriella, you don't have to worry about me," he gently touched the side of my face, wiping a tear that I'd let escape from my cheek.

"I'm just scared Caleb," I sobbed. He wrapped his arms around me and I buried my face in his chest as he held me close.

"No one's going to hurt you, Gabby, I promise."

"Caleb, can you sleep here tonight? My parents aren't going to be home all week and I don't want to be alone."

"Yeah, I can stay here tonight," he kissed the top of my head. "I just have to go to my house to pick up some clothes to wear to school tomorrow. Do you want to come with me or can you be alone for a little while?"

"I'll be OK for a little while. It's still daylight anyways."

"OK, if you need anything, please call me. I can be here in 3 minutes flat," he smiled.

"You know I will. When will you be back?" I asked as we walked to my front door.

"20 minutes tops," he hugged me good-bye and walked to his car.

I ran back upstairs to grab my house phone that was ringing. "Hello?" I asked when I answered it.

"Gabby?" Jasmine asked on the other line. "Why aren't you answering your cell phone?"

"Sorry, I left it in my room," I answered. "What's up?"

"I talked to Josh earlier about what happened to Tyler and how it couldn't have been Caleb because he was with you. Well, Josh told me that he saw Caleb out with some girl at 3:30 that morning, leaving a club."

"So then that proves he couldn't have done it."

"It also proves that he lied about where he was because he told you he was sleeping. Any reason why he would have had to lie to you about what he was really doing when he left your house?"

"I don't know maybe he thought I'd be jealous."

"Maybe, are you?"

"No," I lied. "We aren't dating. So it doesn't even matter."

"Well, Josh is still here so I'll talk to you later."

"Bye." I hung up the phone and sat in the living room, thinking. I grabbed the notebook I had on the table and began writing everything weird about Caleb.

He doesn't get hurt when someone punches him

He heals awfully quick

He was always so polite

He didn't want me to know where he'd been that morning

He was always there for me.

I'm not sure why that last one was weird to me, but it was. I reviewed my list. I told myself I was just being paranoid. In the back of my mind, a voice told me to ask him about these things until he told me the truth. I brushed off that thought just as there was a knock at my door. It was Caleb.

"Hey there," he smiled.

"Hey," I faked a smile. "You can put your bag in my room; I'm just going to start making dinner."

"What are you making?"

"Chicken, carrots, and rice."

"Sounds yummy," he called from my room.

I was cutting the chicken when I felt hands wrap around my waist and someone kiss the back of my neck.

"Hey sexy," Caleb whispered.

"Caleb don't sneak up on me like that," I turned to face him.

"Sorry, I just couldn't resist it."

"Can you make the carrots for me?"

"Sure," he shrugged and went to work on the carrots.

"Are you OK?" Caleb asked as we ate dinner together at the kitchen counter, watching TV.

"I'm fine," I lied. It was upset that he lied to me.

"You're lying," he accused. "You always touch your hair when you're nervous and you clearly wouldn't be nervous unless you were hiding something."

"Fine, you really want to know what's bothering me?" I asked. He nodded. "I know you lied about where you were when I called you after I found that note."

He was quiet for a while. "How'd you find out?"

"Josh saw you and he told Jasmine. Why didn't you just tell me you were some girl?"

"Because you wouldn't understand what she is."

"Because she's one of the many girls that you're with?"

"What? No. There are no girls in my life like that because you're the one I want."

"Just like the girl at the club before Jasmine pissed her off. And the girls that throw themselves at you at school. They _all _mean nothing to you? I want the truth."

"Gabriella," he said gently. "I love you."

I felt a lump form in my throat and my stomach did flips. "Y-you hardly know me."

"I've loved you since the first day I laid eyes on you. You are a beautiful person. I love _everything _about you."

"Caleb," I said softly as he walked over to me and took my hand, leading me to my bedroom.

I sat on my bed and just looked at him as he walked over to me. His brown eyes were filled with passion and love as he leaned over me and pressed his lips to mine. I slowly lay back on my bed as he climbed on top of me. His right hand ran through my hair while he used his left arm for support. I ran my hands up the front of his shirt as his lips pressed hard against mine.

My hands traveled down his sides and up his back. I felt a lump under my hands and realized his back at two scars on it. His body tensed up and he pulled away.

He sat at the foot of my bed looking down at his feet. I crawled over to him and sat beside him.

"What are those scars?" He nodded. "How'd you get them?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

I nodded and rested my head against his shoulder. "You can tell me when you're ready." I didn't want him to tell me if he wasn't ready, but I was a curious person and I wanted to know…badly.

"I'm gonna go shower," he stood from my bed and grabbed his bag. I sat on my bed and listened until I heard the shower start.

I picked up my phone and dialed Jasmine's number.

"What's up?" She asked when she answered.

"Do you think you could pull Caleb's files from the office?" She was always helping file papers in there after school for community service hours for college.

"Of course I can," she sounded proud of herself. "Just out of curiosity, why do you need his files?"

"I have this feeling there's something he's not telling me. He had these scars on his back and he won't tell me what they are from," I explained.

"Are you sure they are scars? Maybe it's a birthmark or something."

"No, they are two scars, one on either side of his spine. I just felt them."

"Is there a reason your hands were on his back?"

I explained to her what had happened. "Aw, he loves you!"

"I know," I smiled. "But I'd love it if I could find out something about him. He's not telling me everything."

"OK, tomorrow after school, I can get the files. Stay after with me so I don't have to rob them."

"Alright. Oh, and have you ever heard of someone healing from a punch to the face over night?"

"Uh, no, why? Did Caleb?"

"Yeah. He was hurt really badly and now he has no mark on his at all. If I wasn't the one who cleaned him up, I wouldn't believe seeing him today that he was in a fight Friday night."

"Maybe he's wearing make-up," she laughed.

"Maybe," I laughed.

"Well, I have to go eat dinner, so I'll see you tomorrow morning."

When I heard the shower turn off, I waited 5 minutes before knocking on the door.

"Come in!" He called.

I opened the door to find him standing there with nothing but a towel on. "Oh, I'm sorry. I just needed to grab a towel; I spilled my water on my floor." I was stammering, staring at his body. His curly hair was shaggy when wet and it dripped down his face. His chest was defined as well as his abs. His towel hung low on his hips.

"Gabby," he touched under my chin and tilted my head up so I was looking at his eyes. "My face is up here." He laughed.

I blushed, realizing he caught me gawking at his body. "What do you expect? You're in a towel and I'm a teenaged girl."

He smiled and kissed me gently. "There's a draft in here so if you don't mind, I'd like to get dressed."

"Right," I smiled as he handed me a towel from the closet. I forgot what I had originally gone in there for until he handed it to me.

I had just finished cleaning the spill on my floor when Caleb walked into my room. He walked by and grabbed something from his bag. He had on sweatpants that complimented his butt perfectly. To my dismay, he had a shirt on. I was more disappointed that I couldn't see his scars more than anything.

"So, what do you normally do on a Sunday night?" He asked, taking a seat in my desk chair.

"Normally," I started. "I want TV. But that seems really boring right now. How about you teach me some Italian?"

We sat on my floor while he taught me how to read, write, and speak the basic words in Italian.

"So, buon giorno is good morning? And buona note is goodnight?" I asked.

"Exactly," he smiled. "You're a quick learner."

"I have this really good teacher," I winked. "How do you say 'I love you'?"

"Ti amo," he told.

I smiled and kissed him. "Ti amo," I whispered into the kiss.

He spent 2 hours teaching me before we started to get tired.

"Ugh, up early for school tomorrow," I said sadly."

"At least we can cuddle together tonight, right?" He asked, pulling me into his arms.

"Very right," I smiled. It was only 9:30 when I changed into my pajamas and joined him under the sheets.

We watched TV for an hour until we were both exhausted. I turned on my side and he wrapped his arm around me from behind.

"Ti amo," I whispered to him in the dark. "Buona note."

"Ti amo, come pure," he whispered, kissing my shoulder.

I turned to face him, my eyes straining to see his face in the dark. "What's that mean?"

"It means 'I love you, as well'."

I smiled and snuggled my head into his chest, happy to have Caleb there with me.

CHAPTER 8

The next morning, I woke to the sound of Caleb in my kitchen.

"Good morning, beautiful," he smiled when he saw me.

"'Morning," I smiled and walked closer to him. "What are you making?"

"You'll see," he smiled. "Go get ready and by the time you're done, the food will be finsihed."

I showered, dressed, and put on some quick eyeliner. I looked at myself. I decided to wear my hair done naturally today. My hair fell 3 inches below my shoulders in brown loose curls.

When I opened my bedroom door, I could smell scrambled eggs and toast.

"How'd you know this was my favorite breakfast?" I asked as I grabbed a plate.

"Lucky guess," he winked. "Enjoy."

"This is delicious," I exclaimed when I tasted the scrambled eggs. "You're a good cook!"

"Thank you," he blushed and continued to eat his food.

At 7:30, we met Jasmine outside my house.

"I'll drive," Caleb offered, taking out his car keys.

"OK," I managed to say before Jasmine pulled me off to the side.

"What the freak? Is there something you need to tell me about _why _he was inside your house this early?" Jasmine whispered.

"He stayed over. I think he's staying over tonight, too," I explained. She narrowed her eyes and I continued. "My parents are away for the week and I hate staying here by myself so I asked him to stay with me."

"I think it's really cute that he's staying at you're house, but if your parents find out...they are going to be pissed."

"I know," I brushed it off. "Let's get going, can't be late anymore, we'll get suspended."

"So, how was your night?" Jasmine asked as we sat in Bio, waiting for class to start.

"It was fine. I had the best night sleep of my life last night," Caleb smiled, looking at me. He moved his seat to the one next to mine since the girl that usually sat there was out today.

"I heard that you sleep the best if you're cuddled up next to the one person you truly love," Jasmine blurted out. I elbowed her. "What?"

"Shut up," I mouthed.

"Shit, Josh, what happened to you?" Caleb asked, oblivious to what Jasmine just said.

I looked up to see Josh taking his seat in front of Jasmine. His eye was black-and-blue.

"I walked into my door after the club on Friday. I might have been a little drunk," Josh whispered the last part.

"You look like you got elbowed in the face," Caleb pointed out.

"Speaking of fights," Josh changed the subject. "How's Tyler doing?"

"He's better," I informed him. "He's ridiculous; he thinks Caleb's the one who attacked him."

"That's not possible, Jasmine told me Caleb was with you at the time," Josh said positively.

"He was," I confirmed.

"Tyler's just being paranoid," Jasmine spoke for the first time since Josh got here. "He can't think of anyone but Caleb who hates him when in reality, this entire school hates him."

"Good point," I agreed.

Tyler wasn't liked by many. He was a jock, of course, but he was an ass and everyone knew it. He was friends with the football team and that was it. Any guy that I had been friends with when we dated was hated by him so they obviously hated him back. Jasmine always thought he was an ass, even before I started dating him.

After school, Caleb and I were behind the school where no one else was.

"I'm staying after with Jasmine," I said as I leaned against the brick wall of the school.

"OK," Caleb stood in front of me with his hands interlocked with mine. "I'll go to my house and pick up more clothes for the rest of the week and then I'll come back to pick you guys up." We had talked earlier at lunch about him staying with me the rest of the week. "Will you be done by 3?"

I looked at my phone. It was already 2:15. "I think so; 3:15 at the latest."

"Alright, I'll be here," he smiled and pulled me closer to him. His lips touched mine for merely 5 seconds before someone walked over.

"Please, get a room." It was Jasmine, laughing.

I glared at her before turning back to Caleb. "I love you."

He smiled and kissed me lightly again. "I love you, too."

"Let's go, we only have an hour," Jasmine said impatiently as she waited for me to go with her to the office to search Caleb's file.

"I'm coming!" I yelled after hugging Caleb good-bye.

"You guys are so cute together," Jasmine gushed as we walked back into the school.

"Really?" I arched an eyebrow. "You usually hate the guys I like."

"I know," she smiled. "But Caleb's nothing like the other ones. He's sexy, he's gorgeous, he's a sweetheart...he's well, he's perfect."

"Hi girls," the secretary, Mrs. Marcy, said as we walked into the office. "It's Monday so that means you girls get to organize the student files."

"My favorite," Jasmine said flatly.

We followed Mrs. M to the room with the student files. "You can just do the senior class for today, we have someone next week doing the rest," she turned to leave the room. "Oh, and Gabby, it's so nice of you to volunteer." She smiled and shut the door behind herself as she walked away.

"What's Caleb's last night?" Jasmine asked, walking over to the stack of file that were labeled "New Students: 2010-2011 school year."

"It's Vinci," I answered, looking around the room.

"Any relation to Leonardo_ Da Vinci_?" She laughed with an eyebrow raised.

"Funny," I smirked. "Find it?"

"Yup," she smiled, pulling his file out. "You look through it; I'll actually file these so they think we really did something."

I opened the file. It had all the basics.

Name: Caleb Anthony Vinci  
DOB: 22 December

"That's weird," I said out loud. "It doesn't have a date down for his birthday."

"That is really weird," Jasmine agreed. "Anything else?"

"Not yet, I'm still looking."

I continued to look through his files. Everything was normal until I got to the part about his last school.

"Caleb told me he lost his scholarship to the school in Italy," I started.

"What do his files say?" Jasmine put down whatever she was doing and read Caleb's file over my shoulder.

"Here," I pointed to where I was reading. "It says that Caleb was kicked out for missing too much school without a medical excuse."

"So, what, he was skipping school?"

"Or maybe, whatever those scars are from, kept him out of school," I pointed out.

"That's possible, but the file said he had no medical excuse. Wouldn't a doctor have to tell them that Caleb was being treated?"

"Unless someone didn't want the school or anyone to know what happened to him."

"You mean like his parents?"

"It's very possible that one of them gave him those scars..."

"How would they have healed?"

"He mentioned his dad going to medical school for 2 years before deciding to become a real estate agent."

"That's an odd change."

"I know," I kept reading the file. "Look, he had all A's in everything. And his schedule so doesn't match mine like my guidance counselor told me. He was doing just fine in Trig. Why would they put him in Stats?"

"That's the only thing that doesn't match. Maybe it was the only class open," Jasmine suggested.

"Maybe," I shrugged and turned the page.

"Gabby, what does that say?" Jasmine pointed to the line that read "Parent/Guardian Information".

"It says _Emancipated_," I said slowly.

"OK, just making sure that I'm not seeing things. So, still think his parents gave him the scars?"

"That's a good enough reason to become emancipated."

"How could he be emancipated? He doesn't have a job, where's he getting money?"

"Maybe he's from a rich family," Jasmine suggested.

"Maybe, there are only 2 people listed under the emergency contact information."

"The first one is 'Michael Vinci". That's probably his cousin from the club. The second one is "Gabriella D'Ambra". OHEMGEE, that's you."

"Oh, is it really?" I asked sarcastically. "How the hell am I on here? We didn't know each other when this was filled out. These get filled out on the first day."

"You have a lot of questions you need to ask him."

"Thanks, Captain Obvious."

"It's almost 3, let's put his file away," Jasmine said, putting his papers back inside the manila folder.

"Girls, are you all set?" Mrs. Marcy asked as she opened the door.

"Yup, we got everything done," Jasmine said with a smile. "See you in school tomorrow."

We quickly walked outside and saw Caleb leaning against his car.

"I don't know which looks sexier right now, that sexy mustang of his or him," Jasmine laughed.

"I'm gonna have to say him," I smiled, admiring the way his body looked right now.

"Well, lucky for you, you get him all to yourself today," she smiled. "I'm going over Josh's. See you later." Josh's car was parked behind Caleb's.

"What are you all smiley about?" He asked when he saw me.

"Oh nothing, just something Jasmine and I were talking about. It was about this really sexy guy with this really hot mustang," I winked.

"I wonder who that could be..." he laughed. He opened the passenger side door for me and shut it once I was in.

"So, what'd you and Jasmine stay after for?" Caleb asked as he started the car.

"We stayed after to help file some stuff in the office; so it looks good on our transcripts," I answered.

"That sounds like so much fun," his voice was full of sarcasm. "Find out anything good?"

"No, I didn't read them," I answered, taking his hand in mine as he drove with his left hand. I wasn't lying either. I didn't file any of them, Jasmine did.

"Who's did you file?"

"The new students. Yours was there."

"And you really didn't read it?"

"Did you get everything you needed to stay at my house this week?"

"Gabby, why are you changing the subject?" He asked as we pulled into my driveway.

"I...read your file," I said slowly.

"Oh..."

"We have some things to talk about," I said as I got out of the car.

When we were in the house, I sat down on the couch and he sat next to me.

"What did you see?" He asked.

CHAPTER 9

"I saw that you _didn't _fail Trig. I saw that you were kicked out of school for unexplained absences. I then saw that you don't have parent, legally, anymore. I also saw that the school has no idea what year you were born in," I explained. "Which did you want to explain first?"

"Gabby, there's something you need to know," Caleb said slowly.

"You think?"

"There's really only one way to tell you but I'm sure you're not going to believe me."

"Try me," I smiled to assure him.

"Do you love me?" He asked.

"Yes, of course I love you," I answered.

"And you'll love me no matter what?"

"Yes..."

"Please, let me explain everything. And please be open-minded."

"Caleb, you know I'm open minded about everything."

"This might be more than you can handle," he said taking my hand in his.

"Caleb, can you please just tell me what you need to say."

"Gabriella, I'm your guardian angel. Or well, I _was_ your guardian angel," he started. "I um, I was born in 1891 and was 20 years old when I died in 1911. When I died, I was assigned to be a guardian angel to a young girl, Elizabeth Morelli, your grandmother. She was only an infant at the time. I remained her guardian angel until she died in the year 2000. That's when I was assigned to her youngest family member. At the time, it was you. For the past 10 years, I have been your guardian angel."

"For the strangest reason, I believe you," I said slowly. "Maybe it's all those books about Fallen Angels and Vampires that I've read but, I do believe you. But, could you maybe try to convince me some more?"

"Sure," he smiled. "When you were 9, do you remember that car accident you were in?" I nodded. "Well, remember how the doctors said they had no idea how you survived?"

"That...that was you?" I asked. "I told my parents that some man pulled me out of the car and helped me survive. The doctor told my mom that I was just making up stories to block the memory of what happened and that it was normal. But no, I knew what I saw and it _was_ you."

"That was me," he nodded. "So, you really believe me?"

"I really believe you," I responded, squeezing his hand. "Why aren't you still a Guardian?"

"They let you serve for 100 years. If you want, they let you have a 2nd chance at life. I wanted to become human again so they let me."

"Do you automatically become human again?"

"No, that's why I missed so much school," he answered. "There's an old angel that works at the school and managed to come up with some fake transcripts for me. So I was quickly enrolled. But, the way the have you get used to being human again is to let you do it in intervals. Like one day human, one week Angel. 2 day human, 5 days Angel and so on until you become human all the time."

"But by the time you were human all of the time, you'd already been kicked out," I guessed.

"Honestly, I've only been human fully since last Monday, my first day here. That's why Tyler's spike in gym class didn't leave a mark. But, the long an Angel is human, the weaker they get until they are fully human."

"So are you fully human yet?"

"I don't know, I'm getting there. Tyler's punch took longer than it should have for an Angel to heal, though it healed much too quick for a human."

"So, what's with the whole lie about your parents?" I asked.

"I didn't lie once about them," he answered. "Everything I told you about them was true when they were alive. They died the same day I did. We were in a car accident..."

"I'm sorry," I said pulling him closed to me on the couch. "So, who's Michael? Is he human?"

"He is now. He's another guardian that wanted a second chance at life. It's the like buddy system they taught you in elementary school, always travel with a friend, for safety. Do you remember when Josh said he saw me at a club with some girl the night Tyler was attacked at like 3:30 in the morning?"

"Yeah," I answered, wondering why he was asking about her. Then it clicked. "Is she another guardian?"

"She's actually the head guardian," Caleb's answer only added to my confusion rather than helping it.

"What do you mean? I thought guardians can't be Angel and human?"

"They can't," he answered simply. "Just her. She's the oldest guardian but only looks at the oldest 24 years old. She chooses every year to stay as the head guardian even though there are hundreds of others who could take her spot."

"Why doesn't she want to be human again? If I was only 24 when I died, I'd like to try and experience life again."

"She died almost 2,000 years ago," he explained. "The world and society have both changed so much that it would just be too much for her to handle and to get used to. I understand how she would feel. I've only been gone a hundred years and nothing is the same. People speak differently, dress differently, and have completely different views on life. You guys even walk different then people did in my time."

"That's understandable," I nodded, processing everything. "So, how come I'm listed on your emergency card?"

"Because you're the whole reason I enrolled here," he smiled. "When I saw you that morning when you first walked into school with Jasmine, I thought you were so breath taking and the way you looked at me told me you thought the same."

"Oh you don't even know," I laughed. "I had butterflies and everything from that smile of yours."

He smiled again and kissed me. "Anything else you'd like to know?"

"There's a lot," I thought for a second. "How do you pay for things?"

"There's always an angel at at least one bank in each state and they set you up with half a million to get settles, pay for a house, a car, etc."

"That explains your car. But, um, why didn't you just enroll here to begin with? Why Italy?"

"It was a personal choice. I thought it would be better if I stayed there, away from you because I was in love with you. I'd been in love with you since you turned 16. I stopped looking at you like that little girl I used to protect and saw you as the beautiful, brilliant, kind person that you are," he explained. "But, I saw that you were with Tyler. So, I thought I wouldn't have any place in your life, so I left."

"What made you come back?"

"You. When I was switching back and forth between human and angel, I was still watching over you. I couldn't always be there but I could sense that you were in danger. Once I knew I would always be human, I came back, to protect you."

"This explains so much, like why I always felt like I was being watched. And it's not even _watched_, I was being _protected_."

"There's just one thing I couldn't protect you from," he said sadly. "Tyler."

"You knew he cheated on me, didn't you?"

"I knew he did it, after he did it. He always felt guilty about it around you. I could sense he did something that would hurt you. I didn't know he cheated though until you told me," he explained.

I brushed that off. "What about your scars, what are they from?"

"My wings," he answered simply. "They were a part of me and when I became human, the scars were the only things I had left."

"Did it hurt when you lost them?"

"No, I didn't even realize they were gone at first," he laughed. "What else do you want to know?"

"Have you ever, like, seen me naked?" I asked feeling awkward.

"No, I can honestly say I've never seen you without clothes," he answered. "I always made sure that I wouldn't. I always gave you your privacy."

"What about when I was with my boyfriends?" I asked.

"I always made sure none of them were going to hurt you, I could always sense when someone wanted to hurt you. If there was no threat, I gave you your privacy."

"You never once saw me make out or do _things_ with a boyfriend?"

"I saw you kiss Tyler, once, and it broke my heart," he admitted.

"You really do love me, don't you?" I smiled, sitting in his lap.

"Oh, yes, I really do," he returned the smile. "All those times you cried over a guy in the past 2 years, I just wanted to be there to hold you and let you cry on my shoulder. I remember this one time that you came home, crying because Nick broke up with you. You managed to say to your mom as you cried that no one loved you."

"I remember that," I could feel tears coming. "I dated Nick last January. He was my first love."

"Yeah," he continued. "When I heard you say those words, it killed me not being human. I wanted to tell you how much I loved you. I wanted to hold you tight and just tell you that _I _love you. That I'll always be there for you."

"Caleb," I felt tears slid down my cheeks. "You can do that now."

He wrapped my arms around my body and held me close. "Why are you crying sweetheart?"

"Because I'm just really happy to have you in my life," I smiled, looking up at him.

"I'm happy you accepted me," he smiled, leaning down to kiss me.

His kiss felt like electricity flowing through my veins. I tangled my fingers in his soft curly hair, intensifying the kiss. I sat in his lap, facing him, with my legs on his side of his hips. His hands grabbed my waist tightly, pulling my shirt.

I grabbed the collar of shirt and pulled him up with me. We walked slowly out of the living room and down the hallway to my bedroom, not once breaking the kiss. He pinned me against the door with his body as my hand fidgeted with the door knob.

Once I got the door opened, he wrapped my legs around his waist as he backed me into my room and onto my bed. His hands caressed my stomach under my shirt while my hands ran up his chest, pulling his shirt over his head. I sat up a little so he could pull my shirt off as my hands tried to undo his belt and jeans.

He kissed my collar bone, up to the hollow of my neck, to my cheek and whispered "Ti amo, bella." _I love you, beautiful. _The words echoed in my mind as he slowly unbuttoned my jeans, slipping them slowly down my legs, moving ever so gently. I tangled my hands in his soft curls and reconnected our lips as we became one.

CHAPTER 10

We cuddled under my sheets, my head resting on his chest while his hand drew soft circles on my arm.

"Was I your first?" Caleb asked, kissing the top of my head.

"Mmhmm," I answered, looking up at him.

"Good," he smiled. "You were mine, too."

"Really?" I was honestly shocked. "No one else?"

"Nope, in my time, no one ever made love before marriage and I never got married. There really wasn't anyone I loved that much back then."

Before I could respond, my cell phone started ringing. I looked at the caller ID to see that it was my mom calling.

"Hey, mom," I said, picking up the phone. I was sitting up now with the sheets wrapped around me. "How's Calica?" It's in Mexico, where they are honeymooning.

"It's beautiful here, how are you doing?" She asked, sounding overjoyed.

"I'm good, I've just been studying with Caleb."

"Oh, well I was just calling to check up. I'll call tomorrow night."

I hung up and felt Caleb kissing my shoulder.

"I don't know what you're studying, but the only thing I'm _studying _is you," he whispered, kissing my neck softly from behind me.

I turned and started kissing him. He groaned and pulled away. Confused, I asked "What's wrong? Did I do something?"

"No, you're perfect," he smiled. "But, Jasmine's outside." I have him a confused look. "I can hear her."

"I guess you didn't lose all of your Angel gifts, huh?" I asked as we both got out of bed and dressed. "Is that how you knew my parents were home the other night after the club?"

He nodded as he threw his shirt on over his head.

When the two of us were finished getting dressed, Jasmine rang the doorbell. Caleb and I walked downstairs together.

"Nice sex hair," Jasmine laughed when I let her in my house. "It's a good look for you."

I groaned and grabbed the elastic off my wrist throwing my long waves into a messy bun.

"Much better," she and Caleb both laughed. She opened her mouth to say something else when there was a bang on my porch.

Caleb gave a strange look and told Jasmine and I to stay here. He walked over to my front door and I could hear him walking around outside. A few minutes later, he was walking back inside the house with a slip of paper in his hand.

"Was someone out there?" I asked, taking the paper from him.

"No, not that I could see," he answered.

"There wasn't anyone out there when I walked over here. I mean, just Josh because he was leaving my house when I walked over," Jasmine explained. "What's that note say?"

I held the note out for her to read.

Dear Gabby,

I hear Tyler's been asking for you. That's a shame. I really did think I had killed him. Next time I won't leave until I don't hear a heartbeat. I promise.

-Anonymous

"Gabby, what the fuck is this?" Jasmine asked in disgust.

"It's another letter," I answered.

"_Another?_ You mean you've gotten ones like this before?" She exclaimed, clearly upset that I didn't tell her about them. "What'd they say?"

"One said "You're beautiful," I explained.

"And the other basically said they were going to _permanently _take care of Tyler," Caleb finished, putting his arm around my waist to comfort me.

"And you didn't think that you needed to tell the police?" Jasmine snapped.

"And what are they going to do? Fingerprint the damn note on the off chance this psycho is already in the system? Or maybe they'll sit outside my house all day. That won't do anything. It's not like this person leaves them every day at the same time."

She was quiet. "What do you plan on doing?"

"I don't know yet," I shrugged, putting the note down on the kitchen counter.

"Well, whoever this is doesn't like the idea of you having a boyfriend," Jasmine pointed out then looked at Caleb. "What happens if they go after Caleb?"

"I can handle myself," he said defensively.

"Even if they attack you from behind?" She shot back.

"Believe me, I can handle myself much better than you know," he smirked and winked at me. I thought back to how he can still hear people before they are within ear shot. He _would_ be able to hear anyone before they could even get within 5 feet of him.

"What's going on here?" Jasmine asked looking between him and me.

"Nothing," I lied. "Anyways, I think we should do our own investigating. In school tomorrow, I think both of you should watch out for anyone who gives me dirty looks or just watches me in any way."

"OK, I can do that," Jasmine agreed.

"Be sure to write their names down though," I added.

"And what, interrogate them later, asking them where they were Monday night?" Caleb asked, arching an eyebrow. "What happens if they say they were home all night?"

"Then we can ask their parents," I smiled.

"And what happens if it's a guy and doesn't want to talk to me?" Caleb asked.

I thought for a second but it was Jasmine who answered that. "That's when I turn my flirt on."

"I like the way you think," I laughed.

"So, it's settled then, you guys play spy and then we investigate," I smiled.

"Sounds good to me, but I don't feel safe going back home. My parents both had to work late and won't be back until like midnight," Jasmine said slowly.

"Just stay here tonight," I suggested. "We can all sleep out here in the family room."

"This floor is a lot comfier than it looks," Caleb informed me as he rested his head in my lap. He was already laying down and I was still up, looking at the note.

"Uh-huh," I said, not really listening.

"Give me that," he grabbed the note from my hand and stuffed it in his sweatpants pocket like I wouldn't go there to get it. "Stop reading it and come lay down."

I rolled my eyes and glanced at Jasmine. She was already asleep on the couch. She got the longer couch because she was taller than me. I was originally going to sleep on the other couch but I felt safer with Caleb's arms around me so I decided to join him on the floor.

I cuddled under the covers with Caleb as Jasmine started snoring.

"Oh great," he laughed. "Do I sound like that?"

"Not at all, you don't snore," I smiled. "Caleb, are you worried?"

"Not a lot," he answered snuggling closer to me, holding me tighter against his body.

"Earlier, you said that you could sense I was in danger when you were still my guardian," I started. "How long ago was that?"

"About two weeks now," he answered. "Whoever's doing this has been stalking you for only 2 weeks now, otherwise I would have felt it."

"But you can't sense who it is?"

"No, they were never close enough. You have nothing to worry about though. Even though I'm not your real guardian anymore, you do have another one. Besides, I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

I smiled, kissing him gently before closing my eyes.

CHAPTER 11

"OK so you guys know to always be looking, especially in the hallways," I whispered to Jasmine and Caleb as Caleb drove us to school.

"We know," Jasmine smiled, fixing the pink and white cardigan I let her borrow.

"But, we can't make it really obvious that we are watching them," Caleb pointed out.

"Obviously," Jasmine rolled her eyes. "I was thinking that I could totally fake having an eye exam last night and having to wear these sunglasses." She took sunglasses out of her purse. "It doesn't hurt that they super cute." She put them on. "Can you see my eyes?"

"Not at all," I answered honestly. "But how are you going to get your teachers to believe you need them for your eyes?"

"Have you met me? I can forge my mom's signature," she smiled slyly. "I just need someone to write the note so they don't recognize my handwriting." She lowered her glasses and looked at me.

"Fine," I rolled my eyes just as we pulled into the parking lot. I wrote her note and handed it to her to sign before getting out of the car.

"What are you going to do?" I asked Caleb as we walked to first period together. Jasmine was walking behind us "observing" people with her sunglasses on.

"Just look around like I'm still trying to figure out things, play that whole new kid thing," he smiled.

When we go into class, Jasmine showed her note to the teacher, then took her seat next to me and passed a note to me.

When we were walking to class, Jessie Parker gave you nastiest look ever. Though, I'm 100% sure it was because she noticed your hand in Caleb's. I think she has a thing for your boytoy.

I wrote back saying:

I can't stand that girl. I don't think she's stalking me though. I think she just wants Caleb for herself. She can't keep her eyes off him.

I looked across the room at Jessie. She was starring, just not at me. She was starring behind me at Caleb. She smiled and waved when he looked up at her. When he didn't wave back, she turned in her seat, pouting.

"She wants you," I whispered to him.

"Poor thing has no idea how much I love _you_," Caleb whispered back.

"OK, so here's our list of people," Jasmine put the list on the cafeteria table just as I took out the sandwich I made this morning for lunch.

"When did you guys make this?" I asked, wondering how they both put the names down they saw.

"When you went to the bathroom last period," Jasmine smiled. "So anyways, there are so far only 3 people, not including the girls who were just staring at Caleb's ass."

Caleb blushed and I laughed. I turned the list so I could read it. "You really put Lucas on here?" I asked when I saw his name.

"Yeah, he was staring the entire time in gym," Caleb answered.

"That's because he's Tyler's best friend and he thinks you're the one that attacked Tyler," I pointed out.

"So, what, are you just going to rule Lucas off?" Caleb sounded pissed.

"Fine, but let _me_ ask him what his problem is," I said. I looked around the lunch room and saw him sitting with Nick and a few other football players.

"Lucas, can I talk to you for a minute?" I asked as I walked over to him.

"Uh, sure," he answered. We walked to the end of the table where no one was sitting and sat down. "What's up?"

"I happened to notice the looks you keep giving me," I started. "What's your problem? You never had an issue with me until I dumped Tyler…"

"It's not you that I have a problem with," he answered seriously. "It's Caleb."

"What'd he to you?"

"He attacked my best friend, Tyler told me that himself. Well, he texted it to me, but same thing."

"Caleb didn't attack Tyler, he was with me that whole time Tyler got attacked," I snapped. "Besides, Tyler even admitted that he couldn't see who it was who did it."

"Well, I'm still convinced it was Caleb. Is that all you wanted to talk about?"

"One more question, where were you last night around 6?"

"I was at Elizabeth's house," he answered. Elizabeth is his girlfriend's name. "We had dinner with her parents and stayed there until like 8. Why?"

"Oh, thought I saw you at the mall, guess I was wrong," I said as I stood up. I walked back over to where Jasmine and Caleb were sitting to see Josh sitting next to Jasmine. I looked at them both as if to say, "I'll tell you everything later."

"What's that?" Josh asked, noticing the list on the table.

Quickly, I grabbed it and said the first thing that came to mind. "A list of things I need to buy for a project."

"Oh yeah, what class?" Josh asked.

"Not a class, more like a project in my room. Jasmine and I are thinking about redecorating it," I lied, fairly well I might add.

"Hm, you guys seem very decorative. I'm sure it'll come out great," he smiled.

"So, Josh, are you coming over tonight?" Jasmine asked, trying to take his attention away from my little lie.

"Of course I am," he smiled.

While they talked, Caleb turned his attention to me. "So?"

"I was right," I smiled proudly.

"Well, we'll keep looking," Caleb glanced at Josh to make sure he was still distracted by Jasmine. "We can rule out the football team. They hate _me _because they believe Tyler that it was me who attacked him."

"I agree, they all love Tyler too much to attack him. Most of them are going off to college with him to play football. They wouldn't attack the best player this state has seen in 10 years…that would raise suspicion that they were jealous of him," I added.

"But since they clearly want you," Caleb started. "It's someone who's jealous for different reasons other than a football scholarship."

"Exactly."

"When do we get to interrogate the suspects?" Jasmine was a little too eager after school when we climbed into Caleb's car.

"When Josh isn't around," I answered. "What was that at lunch today? He _never _sits with us."

"I know, just our luck, the one day I don't want him around he decides to be up my ass," Jasmine finally took the sunglasses off.

"Anyways," I went back to the subject of 'interrogating' people. "Jasmine, you're the one that has to talk to these people. They are all guys. All the girls got ruled off for looking at Caleb, not me."

"I can cancel on Josh," she suggested, pulling out her phone to text him right now.

"How are you going to know where these people are?" Caleb asked as he started his car and backed out of the parking spot he had every day.

"Let me see that list," she grabbed it from my hand and examined it before responding. "OK, there's 6 guys here. Three of them are always at the mall, trying to pick up girls almost every night. I can basically guarantee that they will be there tonight. Two of them are in my phone and I can just ask them to meet me anywhere."

"What about the last one?" I asked.

"The last person's Lucas and you already took care of that one," she answered as she crossed his name off the list.

"So, where are we going?" Caleb asked.

"To the mall," Jasmine answered.

CHAPTER 12

We made it to the mall around 2:30 just as boy number 1 was walking inside.

"There's Mike," I said as he walked into the food court.

"You guys go somewhere else, I don't want him to know you're here, Gabby," Jasmine pushed me closer to Caleb.

JASMINE'S POV

Mike sat down at a seat on the other side of the food court. Quickly, I checked my make-up in my pocket mirror and made sure my black hair was still pin straight. When I was satisfied with how I looked, I walked over to Mike's table and sat down in the empty chair across from his.

"Hey Mike," I said in my most flirtatious voice.

"Hey Jas," he quickly perked up and smiled. "What are you doing here?"

"Just doing some shopping," I answered casually. "I was here last night, but you know how I am, I just can't get enough shopping done."

"Right," he smiled, clearly not paying attention to anything but the neckline of my shirt.

"So, what'd you do last night?" I asked, pulling my shirt up so he couldn't stare. I'm not sure what he was looking at anyways, I was only an A Cup.

"I was actually at this girl Melissa's house," he answered.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, I met her here last week and now we are meeting up again today for a late lunch," he explained. "There she is." He pointed to the blonde walked over to the table.

"Hey, Mel," he smiled. "This is my friend Jasmine."

"Hi, it's really nice to meet you," she had a southern drawl. "I'm new around here and it's just so fantastic to meet all these new people."

"It's nice to meet you, too," I tried to be as friendly as possible. "So, I hear Mike here was with you last night?"

"Oh yeah, he was helping me study for my big math test next week," she smiled.

"Oh, that's nice of him," I smiled at Mike. Too bad he knew nothing about Math and always cheated off me in class. "Well, I'll let you guys have your lunch."

"OK, hope to see you again!" Melissa said happily.

"You too. See you tomorrow, Mike," I waved and turned my heel to look for Gabby and Caleb.

GABBY'S POV

"This one's wicked pretty," I gushed at the necklace.

"I'll buy it for you," Caleb said, snaking his arms around my waist.

"No, it's too expensive," I pointed to the price tag.

"Nothing's too expensive for you," he motioned to the cashier. "We'll take this one."

"Caleb, don't waste your money on me."

"I'm not. This is my way of officially asking you to be my girlfriend," he kissed my cheek.

He handed the cashier his credit card. Once Caleb had the necklace in his hand, he walked over to where I was standing by the entrance and dangled it in his hand.

I turned around and lifted my hair so he could clip it in the back. "So, what do you say?" He asked as he clipped the necklace.

I turned back around to face him and kissed him passionately right there in the middle of the busy mall.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'," he smiled and kissed me again.

"Geez, I've never seen more dirty looks from girls in my life than right now when you kissed the sexiest guy here Gabby," I heard Jasmine say from behind me.

"Look what Caleb bought me!" I happily showed it to her.

"OHEMGEE, that is _gorgeous_," she exclaimed while she examined it. "That must have cost you a fortune."

"Nothing's too much for my Gabriella," he said coming up behind me.

"Can we pretend it's your birthday next, not mine, so he can buy all my gifts?" she joked.

"That could have worked," Caleb started. "Had you not just said that loud enough for me and everyone around to hear."

"Oops," she laughed. "Anyways, we can rule Mike out. He was with some new girl Melissa last night."

"She's in my Psychology class," I responded. "She did say something about having a math study date last night with a Mike, I just didn't think it was that Mike since he's terrible at math."

"That's the best part, she actually thinks he's a genius when it comes to math," Jasmine laughed uncontrollably.

"She must not be that smart," Caleb said trying to stifle a laugh. "So, who's next?"

"Him, over there," Jasmine said pointing to Aaron from our English class. He was standing by the pretzel stand talking to some girl he wanted to pick up. "I'll be back in five minutes."

JASMINE'S POV

Aaron was sexy. He wasn't Caleb sexy but he was the closest out of everyone else. He had straight black hair the hung sexily above his ice blue eyes.

"Hey there cutie," I said with smile.

"Hey there, Jazzy," he smiled, pulling me into a hug. Aaron always has been a close _friend_ of mine.

"Don't tell me you were making plans with that girl for this Friday night, _our _night," I pretended to sound sad.

"You know I couldn't ditch you," he smiled again, crumpling the paper in his hand. Yeah, he got her number. Yeah, he just threw it on the floor to prove a point. Yeah, he'll go back to look for the paper once I'm gone. "But, aren't you and Josh talking?"

"I guess," I shrugged. Shit. "He's cute and all, but I like you more," I winked.

"Good. What have you been up to? I feel like I haven't talked to you since the last time we hung out."

That would be because he hasn't. "Not much, just hanging out with Gabby, you know the usual. How about you?"

"I've actually been on vacation with my family," he answered to my surprise.

"Oh, really? When did you get back?"

"Our plane landed this morning."

That clears his name. "Oh, I hope you had fun," I pulled my phone out and pretended like I had a new text. "It was really a _pleasure _talking to you but Gabby needs me to help her pick out a new shirt for her date this Friday." Sometimes I surprise myself with the lies I come up with on the spot.

"It was really good to see you, too," he smiled. "I'll text you about this weekend."

"OK," I smiled and made my way to the store I'd left Gabby and Caleb at.

GABBY'S POV

Jasmine came over with a smile on her face.

"What are all smiley about?" I asked when she was finally in front of me.

"I talked to Aaron and he just got back in town this morning. He's been on vacation with his family," she explained. "This means I can still hang out with him this weekend."

I rolled my eyes. She never just _hung out _with Aaron. "You ever think that Josh might think you and him are going to date soon?"

She shrugged. "I like Josh, but could you resist Aaron." I gave her a look. "Right, you have the number 1 sexiest guy. Aaron is number 2. Sure, Josh is like number 5, but who's really keeping track?"

"You're crazy," I laughed.

"Speaking of sexy, where is your boytoy?" She looked around for him.

"He's shopping for sneakers. I hate shopping for guys shoes, it bores me," I answered, pointing to the Foot Locker across from the bench I was sitting in.

"Agreed," she plopped down on the bench next to me.

"Want some?" I offered her some of the pretzel I'd gotten when she was talking to Aaron.

"You got this when I was talking to Aaron didn't you?" She asked taking the piece from me. "I thought it was better for you to stay out of eyeshot, just in case he was the one stalking you?"

"I saw the way he looked at you," I laughed. "There's no way he noticed _anyone_ else around him. Not even if he was stalking me."

"Wanna see my new shoes?" Caleb asked.

"Typical guy, obsessed with his new kicks," Jasmine rolled her eyes and stood up next to Caleb.

"So, I'm gonna guess that Aaron isn't the stalker," Caleb guessed.

"What makes you so sure about that?" Jasmine asked, eyeing me slyly.

"Because you didn't jump on him quick enough…just fast enough to want him for yourself," Caleb smiled at her.

"Hilarious," she narrowed her eyes then smiled.

"So, man number 3, where is he?" I asked, looking around.

"I believe he should be-oh he's in the shoe store you just came out of, Caleb," Jasmine pointed to the guy in the blue shirt.

"That's Justin?" Caleb asked. "We just talked about how he went to a bar & grille last night with his family and how their waitress sucked so they were stuck there for 2 hours until 7:30."

"Alright, that rules him out," I grabbed the list from my pocket and crossed his name off it. "So that leaves Jason and Peter. Wait, quiet Peter?"

"Believe me, he is not quiet once you've actually had to work with him," Jasmine said positively. "I'll meet up with both of them later tonight."

"Sounds good," I nodded.

I was nervous. If everything was going the way we planned it, one of them was stalking me. And one of them attempted to murder Tyler. My stomach did flips as I considered the possibility of one of them being the stalker and Jasmine being alone with either one of them.

"Maybe you should just ask them in school, where there are a lot of people around," I suggested.

"She has a point," Caleb backed me up. "One of them is most likely the one who wanted to murder Tyler. It might not be a smart idea to meet them anywhere. School just feels like the safer way to go with this."

"I agree," Jasmine nodded. "But, I think we should head home now."

"Why's that?" I asked.

"Because, Josh just walked in and I told him I was going to visit my grandmother," Jasmine answered, hiding behind Caleb and myself.

"Shit, I think he saw you," I whispered to Jasmine. "Yeah, he definitely did, he's walking over here right now. He doesn't look like he's mad though."

"Hey, guys," Josh smiled and waved as he walked over to us. "Hey, Jasmine."

"Hey," she smiled shyly.

"I thought you couldn't hang out with me because you were visiting your grandmother," he said slowly.

"I did visit her and she loves Gabby so she asked me to pick her up so she could see her. And since Gabby and Caleb were here at the mall, we figured we would pick up something for her while we're here," Jasmine lied to him. I now know where I learned to lie so well on the spot.

"Oh that's nice of you guys," Josh said. "What are you getting her?"

"I don't know yet. A pair of earrings maybe," Jasmine lied like it was no big deal. "We were just on our way to Macy's to look at their jewelry."

Josh just looked at us when a middle-aged woman walked over to us. "Josh, are these your friends?"

"Yes, mom," Josh sounded annoyed. "Jasmine, Gabby, Caleb, this is my mom. We are shopping for my dad's birthday this weekend."

"We have to hurry. He'll be home soon," his mom said, pulling Josh away rudely.

"That was weird," I pointed out as Josh and his walked away.

"Let's get out of here before he comes looking for us in Macy's," Jasmine said pulling Caleb and me out of the mall.

"Are you going to sleep here tonight?" I asked Jasmine when we were finally back at my house.

"No, my parents are both going to be home tonight so I should be OK," she answered, grabbing her purse from the backseat of Caleb's car.

Just when I shut the car door, a police cruiser pulled into my driveway.

"Caleb Vinci?" The officer asked Caleb, walking up to three of us.

"Yeah, what's going on?" Caleb asked.

"Caleb Vinci, you're under arrest for the attempted murder of Tyler Danvers," the officer pulled his handcuffs out of his pocket.

"What? That's not possible!" I protested.

"Ms., please step back and let me do my job," Officer, I think his tag said Smith, said looking at my sternly.

"He has an alibi though!" I exclaimed when he shut the back door the cruiser with Caleb in it.

Officer Smith ignored me and just drove off without another word.

"What the _fuck_?" Jasmine exclaimed as he drove down the road and out of my neighborhood. "Caleb was with you."

"I'm going to talk to Tyler."

CHAPTER 12

"It's Gabriella, right?" The same nurse was sitting behind the counter at the hospital. I nodded. "Tyler's resting right now, would you be able to come back later or tomorrow?"

"No, not really, it is very important that I see him right this minute," I tried to sound as nice and polite as possible but it was getting hard.

"OK," she sighed. "I'll take you to see him."

Tyler was watching TV when I walked into his room. There were flowers and "Get well soon" balloons all over the place.

"Gabby, what brings you here?" He asked stupidly, turning the TV off.

"Like you don't already know," I scoffed and walked closer to his bed. "What did you tell the police about Caleb?"

"I didn't tell them _anything_," he said cockily.

"You know just as well as I do that Caleb did _not_ do this to you. There's no way he could have, he was in my room that whole time you were attacked,"

"Go look at those flowers I got," he pointed to the bouquet of withered white roses sitting on the table at the foot of his hospital bed. "Withered white roses mean death. Read the card that was sent with them."

I picked up the note and felt my stomach flip.

Dear Tyler,

It is really a shame that I couldn't kill you like I wanted to. Maybe next time.

This note was just like the ones I had been getting. The only difference is that this one wasn't signed _Anonymous._ It was signed _Caleb_.

"When did you get these?" I threw the flowers on the floor and back away from him slowly.

"Around 3 o'clock," Tyler answered. "They told me that the flowers were ordered last night."

"Last night? Caleb's been staying at my house all week. We haven't been apart at all," I responded, putting the card down on the table. "Tyler, there's some things that you need to see." I pulled the other notes out of my pocket and put them down in his lap.

He read each note at least 3 times over before looking up at me. "How can you be sure Caleb wasn't the one leaving these?"

"Because the first one was left in my living room through an open window when Caleb was helping me cook. The second one was left on my bedroom window a half an hour before you were attacked when Caleb was out at a club. And the last one was left just minutes after Caleb and I….made love," I said the last two words quietly.

"Then how do you explain that note that I got with the flowers?"

"Someone clearly wants everyone to think it was Caleb who did this. Whoever it is doesn't want Caleb around me."

"Maybe you should tell the police what's been going on," Tyler suggested just as everyone else did.

"That's where I'm going now," I called out to him as I walked out of the hospital room.

"Someone's framing Caleb?" Jasmine asked when we got into my car.

"Yeah, it seems like they just don't anyone around me," I said as I started my car and pulled out of the hospital parking lot. "I'm going to the police station to prove Caleb's innocent."

"If they don't want _anyone_ around you, doesn't that mean that they could try and get rid of me, too?" Jasmine sounded scared.

"We'll have this figured out before that can happen."

The minute I walked into the police station, I saw Caleb sitting there.

"Gabby!" he yelled, pulling me into his arms.

"Are they letting you go?" Jasmine asked when she noticed that he wasn't handcuffed or anything.

"Yeah," he smiled. "I told them how I was with Gabby when Tyler was attacked. They called your parents, Gabby, to make sure I really was there."

"My parents?" I was confused. "They were asleep that entire time."

"Apparently not," he answered. "Your mom said she was awake reading a book to try and fall asleep when she heard you letting me into your house."

"I'm just happy they know it's not you," I smiled and kissed him.

"The police have been calling you to come pick me up, where's your phone?" Caleb asked.

"Oh, I went to the hospital to talk to Tyler and put it on silence," I explained.

"Did you find anything out?" Caleb looked concerned.

"That's what I came here for," I turned to the officer sitting behind a desk. "Can I speak with Officer Smith?"

"Sure," the officer smiled. She picked up a phone. "There's someone here who wants to talk to you."

"Nice to see you again," Officer Smith said to me when he saw me waiting next to Caleb.

"I have something really important to tell you. It's about Tyler Danvers," I responded, standing up.

"OK, come into my office…all of you," he looked at Jasmine and Caleb.

We followed him into his office. He sat down behind his desk and folded his hands on his desk. "What do you need to tell me?"

I pulled the notes out of my purse and handed them to him.

"When did you get these?" He asked sternly after reading them.

I explained everything to him about when and where I got each of the notes. I explained how there was no way these notes were from Caleb because he was with me when I got the first and last one.

"Why didn't you come to us sooner?" Officer Smith asked when I finished talking. "You could be in a lot of trouble."

"I didn't think there was much you could do, I mean Caleb was the only suspect but he has an alibi for everything," I pointed out.

"Well, we know that whoever this is wants you alone. They attacked Tyler, trying to get rid of him permanently. They tried to get Caleb locked up. What about you?" He motioned to Jasmine. "Have you gotten any threats or anything lately?"

"No," she shook her head. "Not yet."

"


End file.
